New measures against passive smoking in children
Although many parents do not know the real effect of tobacco on their children, the so-called "secondhand smoke", that is, passive smoking, is very aggressive when children inhale it. The reason is that it is largely composed of residual cigarette smoke that is generated after someone else has inhaled it.
In this way, some substances such as carbon monoxide or tar penetrate more easily into the respiratory tract of children, affecting their development process, and the growth and formation of cells.
A recent study conducted by the Department of Medicine of the University of Minnesota, in the United States, on the harmful effects of exposure to tobacco smoke in children, which was based on data from urinalysis, revealed that 90 percent of passive smoking children, that is, living in households with smoking parents, had significant levels of toxic agents from tobacco, which, due to being accumulated, cause different respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, ear diseases, infections, allergies and more chances of developing cancer in the future.
In addition, it has been shown that passive smoking children are more vulnerable to developing smoking in adulthood. And is that according to the latest data from the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery, one in three young people between 16 and 24 years old is a smoker, and Spain the European country in which more parents up to 92 percent recognize smoking at home. For this reason, many countries are trying to protect children from second hand tobacco smoke.
United Kingdom will ban on smoking in cars
Protecting the health of children in the car by preventing their companions from smoking inside the vehicle is the objective of the new regulations that will come into force in the United Kingdom next October. The new rule will prohibit smoking drivers of cars that carry children as passengers.
The measure is not a novelty, since it follows in the footsteps of other countries such as Australia, South Africa, some Canadian regions and North American states. Cyprus is the only place in Europe where similar regulations are in force. In total, 342 British parliamentarians voted in favor of the application of this measure, while only 74 rejected it.
Violators of this regulation, ie drivers or passengers who light a cigarette inside the car when traveling with children, will have to face fines of 64 euros, the equivalent of 50 pounds.
Three million children are passive smokers during their journeys by car, and according to data from the British Medical Association (BMA), tobacco smoke inside cars can be up to 11 times more toxic than that of bars and 23 times more than can be concentrated in a house. According to the British Lung Foundation (BLF), more than 430,000 children are passively exposed each week to smoke inside cars.
Marisol New
