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Mums – Have Your Say About Smoking In Cars
1st February 2012
Are you a passionate mother with something to say? Do you feel strongly about the fact that in Britain it’s still legal to light up and smoke a cigarette in a car in front of children? If so, the British Lung Foundation is calling for your support to get politicians committed to reducing the number of children exposed to passive smoke in cars
The BLF has secured support from all parties and with your help, they are determined to get a commitment by the Public Health Minister or Secretary of State for Health to commence a behaviour change campaign to reduce the health risk to children caused by passive smoking in cars.
Every year over 300,000 children in the UK go to their GPs with illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia as a result of being exposed to passive smoking.1 Smoking around children in the car is particularly dangerous as it is such a confined space. Over half of children aged 8 – 15 say they have been exposed to cigarette smoke in the car.2 Research by the University of Aberdeen has shown that smoking in a car exposes children to the same levels of smoke in a busy smoke filled pub.3
You and your children can help highlight these shocking statistics by writing to your local MP to encourage them to alert the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Anne Milton with a view to ensure a proper evaluation of the behaviour change programme in England, and to commit to legislation if it is not successful. Visit www.lunguk.org for more information and to download a template letter.
Make Your Pledge Here
[1] Passive smoking and children: A report by the Tobacco Advisory Group. Royal College of Physicians; 2010.
[2] The BLF surveyed over 1,000 children aged 8-15 through TNS between 20th and 27th January 2011. The survey was completed online through a Kids Bus Service.
[3] Smoking in Cars: A project report from the Scottish Centre for Indoor Air; Dr Sean Semple et al; final report summary November 2010
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