Jump to full article: Globe and Mail (ca), 2008-03-20
Author: PATRICK WHITE
Intro: Even when smokers roll down windows and flip on fans, they expose car passengers to hazardous levels of second-hand smoke, says a new Canadian study that buttresses efforts to ban smoking in automobiles with children.
University of Waterloo researchers found that levels of second-hand smoke in vehicles with the windows up exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines by up to 100 times in just 20 minutes of burning a cigarette. When drivers lowered windows halfway, the plume still surpassed EPA limits for 24-hour fine-particle exposure by six times.
The principal researchers, Taryn Sendzik and Geoffrey Fong, were astounded by their own findings, contained in a report by the provincial Ministry of Health's Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. . . .
"We tell all our members not to smoke in the presence of kids, in cars, in homes, ever," said Arminda Mota, president of MyChoice.ca, a smokers' advocacy group funded by Imperial Tobacco. "These health zealots - what's next, are they going to ban adults from giving junk food to kids? Are they going to come to our houses and see how you cook your meals? While they're there they might as well come to your bedroom and check out how you do it. Is this a free country?"
Mr. Cunningham dismissed that line of reasoning. "For 40 years, the slippery-slope argument has been used against every tobacco measure," he said.
"That's to be expected. It's pretty hard to argue that children should be exposed to poison."
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