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Globe editorial

Against an in-car ban

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 1:20 AM EST 29/02/08

Banning smoking in motor vehicles in which children are passengers is one of those well-intentioned, superficially appealing ideas that set us on a slippery slope to persecuting smokers, especially the poor, for what they do in their own homes. ...Read the full article

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  1. thomas laprade from Thunder Bay, Canada writes: I'm afraid that the proposal to ban smoking in cars occupied by children represents an
    unwarranted intrusion into the privacy and autonomy of parenthood. The autonomy to
    make one's own decision about risks to subject a child to is not to be interfered with lightly.
    It should only be done in cases where there is a substantial threat of severe harm
    to the child. Interfering with parental autonomy in a case where there is only minor
    risk involved is unwarranted.

    Thomas Laprade
  2. Steve Hartwell from Toronto, Canada writes: What a very clever editorial. It appears to uphold the sanctity of private property and family rights, but actually in fact fuels the flames to take away those very rights it perports to defend. Thus paving the way to taking those rights away from us all for other future bogus Junk Science allegations. I am a Baby Boomer. We grew up in a cloud of Second Hand Smoke, and we are still the largest population segment, alive and well today. The claims about Second Hand Smoke are falsified Junk Science for-a-buck for many; the false claims a self-deluding belief to keep from taking up smoking again to cope with everyday stress by most; and for some Anti-Smoking is a tool for Social Engineering and Control of everything we do, and think. The average Smoker exhales less than 500 mg of SHS per day. One cigarette is about 25mg. The average Car exhales 2.2 MILLION mg per day. It's the Car itself that is the Public Health Risk. For the sake of Public Health, it is NOT Smokers that need banning from Cars, it is KIDS that need banning from Cars, or better yet, the Cars themselves. I pray for the ASAP return of Real Science and Real Common Sense, and a Public with the brains to know it is being lied to by Anti-Smokers. - Steve H. ventilatedsmokingrooms.ca
  3. joe h from oakville, Canada writes: When I was a young teenager I took one trip with my buddy and his parents to one of his hockey games. His father was a chain smoker who cracked open the car window no more than 1/2 an inch. It was truly unbearable. The old man died of lung cancer more than a decade ago.

    Common sense?? Common sense means you dont smoke around children!
    Slipperly slope. F-ck that. Todays children already face too many health challenges without facing cig. smoke in the car or home.

    ''The autonomy to make one's own decision about risks to subject a child to is not to be interfered with lightly...Interfering with parental autonomy in a case where there is only minor risk involved is unwarranted'

    Are you kidding me? This is why society needs to protect children because some adults are just plain stupid!!
  4. thomas laprade from Thunder Bay, Canada writes: How many people have seen a smoker in a car smoking with children present?
  5. Kevin Mulvina from Canada writes: Joe from Darkville should be visiting the pope a walking miracle to be sure. A wonder in trusting the fact he survived to tell the tale. Personally I don't believe his story is credible in the least, no one lives after being exposed to smoke in the back seat of a car, everyone knows that.

    Parents are always a better judge of what is safe for their own children. Centuries of consistent evidence has always demonstrated they deserve to be trusted. Busybodies and paid smoking patch lobby groups, will never replace the loving relationships which exist between parents and their children.

    It is reprehensible for government paid advocates armed only with wide brush accusations, to claim; because someone smokes they have no compassion for their own children. Hasn't the fear mongering and state promoted bigotry gone far enough? What ever happened to the trust between the people and the State? Apparently the people are no longer worthy of trust or compassion. Are we or are we not talking about addiction here? Since when did we start punishing people in hopes of forcing them to quit?

    Do we start loading smokers into boxcars next. McCarthyism ended with the word enough, There is no such thing as a witch so those with the lanterns and pitchforks can all go home.

    ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
  6. Brad Reddekopp from Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada writes: What a surprisingly good editorial. Thank you to the Globe and Mail for speaking out against unwarranted coercion and in favour of the the protection of the individual's right to privacy.

    I was a smoker for many years but I was clever enough to figure out that one doesn't smoke in close quarters with children and especially not babies -- and I'd be surprised to find out that I was in the minority in that respect.
  7. m vezina from Canada writes: Forget passing a new law and charge these people with child abuse under the criminal code, then force them to take parenting courses because they obviously need them.
  8. Emma Hawthorne from Canada writes: I'm sure the children of nicotine addicts see it differently. For them, some of whom end up in hospital with severe chest infections due to their parents' smoking, any relief cannot come too soon. Why are we putting up with nictotine addiction when so many are against it. The law prohibits anyone from introducing poisonous products in to the marketplace, so why are we still putting up with cigarettes? In homes or cars? As sidewalks are public spaces, why aren't they banned on sidewalks?
  9. Ed Lewis from Sanityville, Canada writes: For God's sake, stop the endless bickering and outlaw the stuff! It is more trouble than it is worth and causes too much suffering. There is no doubt we would be better off without tobacco.
  10. Sam Snead from Canada writes: I'm pretty surprised most people would consider a ban like this reasonable. I guess, most people are just not thinking about it.
  11. Nickstar One from Canada writes: Anyone notice that those crying "child abuse" are in the forefront of promoting bullying and abuse toward millions of their fellow citizens, including children? Got to love the hypocritical intricacies of "hatred having free reign". By the way, those "cigarette butts everywhere" (that drive you to apoplectic fits of hateful rage) were put there because of your asinine fixation of "take it outside" of ENCLOSED
    PUBLIC PLACES.

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