5.2 Pressure groups

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health launched this Inquiry in response to the Smoking in Private Vehicles Bill 2010–11, introduced to parliament by Alex Cunningham MP under the Ten Minute Rule. The aim of the bill is to ban smoking in private vehicles where there are children aged under 18 present.

The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 22nd June 2011 and was supported by 78 votes to 66 against. The APPG was keen that the best available evidence should inform the debate stimulated by the bill and in particular the second reading, scheduled for 25th November. The purpose of this Inquiry was therefore to examine the most up-to-date evidence on the harm caused by smoking in cars and the regulatory issues raised by the proposed legislation.

Background

1. In March this year the coalition government launched Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England. The plan identifies the serious harm of secondhand smoke and acknowledges that ‘people are today most likely to be exposed to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke in their own homes and private motor vehicles’. However, the plan stopped short of proposing new legislation to deal with this issue, opting instead for a voluntary approach to promoting behaviour change. In this spirit, a marketing campaign is planned for spring 2012 to remind smokers of the harms of secondhand smoke and to encourage smokers to make their homes and cars smokefree.
2. The government’s strategy was published at a time when the public debate on smoking in cars had already broached the options of legislative change. In March 2010 the Royal College of Physicians called for the banning of smoking in all vehicles in its report Passive Smoking and Children. Later that year the British Lung Foundation launched its Children’s Charter campaign with a focus on protecting children from secondhand smoke. The campaign includes a petition calling for smoking in cars to stop where children under the age of 18 are present.
3. This year the Royal College for Paediatrics and Child Health called for all cars carrying children to be smoke free while the British Medical Association voted to support a ban on smoking in private vehicles regardless of who is present as they considered this to be safest for children, easiest to enforce, and the most effective option.
4. This is an issue of great public interest with a growing evidence base. The Ten Minute Rule Bill introduced by Alex Cunningham MP in June this year has provided a clear focus for debate on this issue. The APPG is eager to ensure that this debate is informed by the best available evidence and addresses the practical and ethical issues raised by the legislation. These are the concerns of the Inquiry.
5. The APPG notes that the Welsh Government has followed a similar route to the coalition government in Westminster by choosing to pursue a mass media campaign focused on stimulating changes in smokers’ behaviour in cars with children. However, the Welsh Government has stated its intention to legislate if the campaign is ineffective. The Northern Ireland Executive has gone further and committed to a consultation which is due to be completed by spring 2012.

Findings and Conclusions

6. Smoking in cars causes several distinct harms. Firstly, there is the harm to the smoker from inhaling tobacco smoke. Secondly, there is the harm to other adults and children in the vehicle from inhaling secondhand smoke. Thirdly, there is the potential harm to children and young people from witnessing smoking as normal adult behaviour, as this increases the risk of smoking uptake. Finally, there is the potential harm to the driver, passengers and other road users from the driver’s temporary loss of full control of the vehicle.

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15. Although it is difficult to identify the specific health impacts of secondhand smoke within cars, because people exposed within cars also tend to be exposed within the home, it is logically evident that the risk of harm is likely to be high, given the severity of the hazard and the scale of the exposure.

16. Children and young people are also affected by witnessing smoking as a normal adult behaviour. Children who live in households where adults smoke are much more likely to become smokers themselves than children growing up in non-smoking households. For every 10 children from non-smoking households who start smoking, 27 children from households where both parents smoke will start smoking themselves. Overall, if there is any smoker in a household, the likelihood that children within the household will start smoking is almost doubled. This modelling effect is responsible for about 20,000 young people becoming smokers by the age of 16 every year.

17. Smoking also affects driving safety. The Highway Code identifies smoking as one of several distractions that compromise safe driving. Unlike the use of mobile phones, smoking by drivers remains permitted. Yet the ‘inattentional blindness’ caused by using a mobile phone is also experienced when carrying out smoking-related tasks such as finding and preparing cigarettes, lighting up, and extinguishing the cigarette. International evidence demonstrates that the distraction created by smoking increases the risk of having a motor vehicle accident.

18. Although the evidence for these many harms is clear, care is needed in developing policy responses in order to avoid unexpected adverse outcomes. For example, critics of the ban on smoking in public places argued that it would result in an increase in children’s exposure to secondhand smoke in the home. In fact, this outcome did not occur: reductions in exposure to secondhand smoke have been observed in both public and private places since the enactment of smokefree legislation.