WHENEVER I meet people concerned about our campaign to ban smoking in cars carrying children, it is usually for four main reasons, writes Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Association.

Firstly, is passive smoke really that harmful to children? Well, while tobacco industry pressure groups such as Forest say the risks are overstated, the science unfortunately says otherwise.

Second-hand smoke is considerably more dangerous to children than adults, and has been shown to increase their risk of health problems ranging from asthma exacerbations, colds and ear infections, to meningitis and cancer.

A 2010 report by the Royal College of Physicians found that every year in the UK, around 300,000 GP visits and 10,000 hospital admissions are caused by second-hand smoke in children.

It is because of this extra danger, and because children are far less able to speak up for their rights or choose how they travel than adults, that we are only calling for a ban in cars carrying children.

Suggestions that such a ban will inevitably lead to a ban for adults are therefore illogical. Secondly: why just in the car? Well, research has shown the resultant concentration of toxins is much higher when you smoke in a car than in larger enclosed spaces.

For instance, a recent University of Aberdeen study showed that smoking in the car, even with the window down or air conditioning on, can create levels of pollution that exceed official World Health Organisation safe limits.

This is why we are only calling for a ban in cars; claims that such a ban would spread to homes and elsewhere are again just scaremongering.

Thirdly: is the problem actually serious enough to change the law?

While opponents to legislation suggest not, pointing the same, inappropriately-designed Irish study, the rest of the research shows a worryingly widespread problem.

For instance, BLF figures, based on UK data from the NHS and Office of National Statistics – the most extensive, recent and reliable data available – reveal that over 430,000 11-15 year-olds are exposed to second-hand smoke in their family car every week.

And 185,000 – equivalent to over 6,000 classrooms full – are exposed every day or most days.

And that’s not including children younger than 11, who are at greatest risk but for whom the data simply isn’t available.

This clearly shows that the problem is widespread, and that adverts and awareness campaigns alone simply haven’t worked well enough.

Finally: surely such a law is unenforceable? Well, no more so than similar laws around smoking in work vehicles and wearing seatbelts.

Anyway, such arguments miss the point.

This law is not designed to turn smokers into criminals. It is a child-protection law designed to change smoking behaviour.

Taking seatbelts as an example, research showed that introducing legislation increased the number of people wearing seatbelts in this country from 25 per cent to 91 per cent. If this law has even half that success, imagine how many children’s lives that could affect.

Of course, it is right that governments be careful about how laws affect personal liberties.

However, we also have a duty to protect the health of our children. On this issue, surely the time has come to accept that child welfare is more important than inconveniencing smokers on long drives.

Smoking in cars carrying children should be banned, and the sooner we do it, the more children we can protect.

SMOKING in cars with children is inconsiderate, but legislation is not the answer, says Angela Harbutt, campaigns manager for FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco).

We have no faith in puffed up ‘estimates’ from academics with yet another axe to grind.

The idea that large numbers of children are exposed to tobacco smoke in cars is as outdated as black and white television.

Real-life surveys show only a very small number of adults still smoke in cars with children present.

A 2010 poll of 1,000 smokers found that 84 per cent of adults wouldn’t dream of lighting a cigarette in a car if a child was present.

A more recent real-life study, conducted earlier this year by UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population in Ireland, observed 2,230 drivers in Dublin and found that just 31 drivers (1.39 per cent) were smoking while driving and only one child was exposed to tobacco smoke.

It concluded that the “resources required for a ban in vehicles may be labour intensive for the yield in detection or prevention”.

I am pretty certain that a similar real-life study of the average town in England would yield similar figures and draw the same conclusions.

Smoking in cars with children is inconsiderate but that’s no reason to demand legislation.

It is taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

We all know, by the facts and by daily observation, the numbers of adults smoking in cars with children has fallen over the past few years.

More education will see that figure fall further, without the need for heavy-handed government measures.

Surely the better route is education, support and encouragement for those few who do smoke in a car with children present?

That has to be better than coercion.

And what of the practicalities? Not only would a ban be very difficult to enforce, it would be a huge waste of government time, introducing such legislation, and of police resources.

Are there not more important things these people should be doing?

There are also the unintended consequences to consider. What would be the penalty for such a “crime” – a fine?

And if a fine, what would be the result if those fined could not afford to pay the fine?

Are we really advocating that children be deprived of family income or that their parents are criminalised?

The truth of the matter is that a ban on smoking in private cars with children is the first step on the route to a ban on smoking in all private spaces.

Academics and anti-smoking campaigners will not be satisfied with a ban on smoking in cars with children. If they get their way on this issue they will soon be calling for a total ban on smoking in private cars, with or without children.

And a ban on smoking in homes will be the next logical step.

Once the governments and bureaucrats are invited to dictate what we can do in private, there is no knowing where this will end.