Doctors want ban on smoking if kids are in the car

By Kate Howard, The Tennessean

A baby can't ask Mom to put out her cigarette while he's captive in the car.

That's why the Tennessee Medical Association is working to make it illegal to smoke while young children are in the car, whether the windows are down or not. The association is hoping they'll find a legislator willing to pick up their cause this year and make it a $25 ticket if an officer notices smoking and a child 9 years old our younger during a traffic stop.

"It's unfortunate that sometimes common sense doesn't prevail," said Russ Miller, vice president of the Tennessee Medical Association.

So far, nobody has jumped on board as a sponsor, and some local organizations dedicated to secondhand smoke prevention have declined to put their force behind the idea either. Just more than a year into the state's ban on workplace smoking, some advocates say they need to remain focused on their primary issue.

"Obviously, our association is in favor of anything that would reduce or eliminate the hazards of secondhand smoke," said Doris Spain, executive director of the Tennessee Public Health Association. "As far as that particular idea or bill, we probably would not weigh in on that one way or another. I think we're more interested in maintaining the integrity of the Non-smokers Protection Act."

To take their eye off attempts to strengthen that law that bans smoking in many restaurants and bars, hotels and endorse another restriction would be to risk a backlash, Spain said:

"There's some fear of that. I think there's a lot of concern over the individual rights ... With all the changes that are likely to occur (to the smoking act), we will probably spend our time defending what's there."

Chastity Mitchell, director of CHART, the Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee, said they support any initiative to reduce secondhand smoke but they aren't taking a position on the issue of smoking in cars. Hedy Weinberg, director of the Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said she plans to wait to comment until she has seen a bill.

So is it a parent's prerogative to smoke around their children, or a problem that needs government intervention? Some parents say they would welcome the limits for those who don't realize the health risks to their young ones, while others see the potential ticket as an unwelcome government intrusion.

There are four states, including Louisiana and Arkansas, with some type of law against smoking while children are in the car, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. An additional 14 states introduced legislation last year related to the topic.

If the draft legislation makes it to a vote in Tennessee, officers would not be able to pull someone over on suspicion that they were smoking but would issue a fine if smoking is detected during a traffic stop, Miller said.

Bonnie Dalager, a Brentwood mother of a 4-year-old, is not a smoker. She doesn't approve of those who smoke in breathing distance of their children. But she also doesn't think the government has the right to interfere.

What's next, Dalager wonders. Fines for pregnant women or parents who smoke inside their own homes?

"I don't agree with doing these things," Dalager said. "I can't stand the smell of (smoke). But in my eyes, it is a matter of government crossing the line with this one."

Dalager would rather see parents get more education about what smoking inside a confined space could do to their children's health.

And what it can do is contribute to long-term health problems or acute illnesses, said Todd Callahan, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

"There is a lot of data, both nationally and internationally, that indicates there's really no safe level of secondhand smoke for children or adults," he said.

Smoke exposure has been linked to increases in sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory infections, ear infections and asthma, Callahan said. It has also been shown to slow the growth of a child's lungs and can have long-term health effects, he said.

It's for that reason that Mandy Walker would support the ticket. While she has reservations about regulating parenting, she has such a hatred of the practice of smoking with kids in the car that she would be in favor of the traffic ticket.

Walker, a Mt. Juliet mother of two, said she used to smoke. She grew up in a home where her parents smoked inside. But she would never let anyone smoke with her kids in the car, and her parents won't smoke in front of their grandchildren.

"Times have definitely changed," Walker said.