'Ban smoking in homes with child'

[whoa182]

Nearly three-quarters of people believe smoking in households with children should be banned, a poll suggests.

The survey, by Developing Patient Partnerships, found 72% of respondents, including 65% of smokers, were in favour of a ban.

However, it also found many people were unaware of full negative impact of smoking around children in the home.

Doctors say it damages children's health, and increases the likelihood they will become smokers themselves.

More than four out of ten (42%) of children live in homes with at least one smoker and a third smoke around children.

The survey also found the vast majority of people were unaware of how rapidly health improves after giving up smoking.

Only 9% were able correctly to say that the health benefits start to kick just 20 minutes after the final cigarette.

Support needed

Most people (66%) believe that employers should offer smokers support to give up.

Developing Patient Partnerships is offering smokers and their loved ones practical advice on how to quit.

Dr Terry John, DPP spokesman and a GP said: "These results show how strongly people feel about smoking around children in the home.

"Parents need practical help that shows the positive side of quitting and encouraging the whole family to get healthy together rather than a law forcing them not to smoke at home."

Deborah Arnott, director of the anti-smoking ASH, welcomed the move to raise awareness about the health hazards of smoking in the home.

"Although knowledge about the dangers of passive smoking is growing, many people underestimate the harm that it causes, especially to children.

"The only way for parents to protect their children from tobacco smoke is by making their homes entirely smoke free."

Caution sensible

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group FOREST, said: "We dispute the alleged impact of passive smoking but, where children are concerned, it makes sense to err on the side of caution.

"We therefore support moves to discourage people from smoking around children in enclosed spaces.

"However, attempts to demonise parents who smoke are unacceptable. Smoking is a legal habit and tobacco is a legal product."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said a recent advertising campaign had highlighted the dangers of smoking near children.

She said: "Nearly half of adult smokers continue to smoke in the car when children are present and almost one third smoke when their children are in the same room.

"We are keen to increase the public's awareness of these risks and to encourage them to take measures to ensure that fewer children suffer the health problems associated with second-hand smoke."

The poll, by ICM Research, was based on telephone interviews with 1,275 adults.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4114068.stm

Edited June 22, 2005 by whoa182

[Ausaria]

While I don't think it's right to smoke around a child, what people do in their homes should be their own business.

Kids should be outside anyway.

[eckogangsta]

Kids should be outside anyway.

do you know how stupid that sounds? leave kids outside all day? (especially infants) wtf?

[Doctor_Strangelove]

Second hand smoke is deadly, it should be banned from in homes with children. It's not fair that the child dies because the parents can't cut an addiction. Children can't choose who their parents are now can they?

[AztecInca]

I agree, if parnets wish to smoke its their business but they have no right to do so around their child, in doing so they can harm their child/children just as much as they are harming themselves and that is just unacceptable.

[TheOriginalF]

While I think it would be wonderful idea, it would be almost impossible to enforce it. I think it would be a huge waste of time to even attempt to try to control what people do in the privacy of their own homes. Unless the child is in immediate danger I'm not sure there is really anything we can do about it.

Do we really want the Government having that much control over what we can and can't do in our own homes, and at what point is interfering with the rights of somebody inside their own infringing to greatly on our own personal freedoms?

Again I don't think anybody should be so stupid as to smoke in a house with young children, but I really don't see any viable way to pull something like this off.

[__Kratos__]

There is no direct evidence that second hand smoke causes or even leads to any type of illness! There isn't even enough evidence to actually really say smoking is bad. The typical person will watch the media and would rather believe them that smoking is bad for you, when in fact smoking has more pros then cons!

Ha, just messing with you guys! I think this ban would be a good idea, for the safe being of the child. It is against the law to sell cigs to people under 18 but it isn't against the law to let them breath it in? What kind of dumbbleep made that great idea up? It is illegal to sell it to kids because of the health risks of your lungs not being mature enough. Jeez... if someone would look at this logic they would be stunned to see how stupid they really are.

[Falco Rex]

If I can add some perspective here; I have a small child and I smoke..I tend to go outside and do it when the weathers cooperating..however, when it's 20 below zero in February I resort to the blow it out the window tactic..

It's not perfect, but we do what we can..

I certainly, however, don't need another restrictive law on my personal life, and I don't think everyone else does either. For any reason. The Government needs to stay out of our homes. Frankly, they've become intrusive enough..

[twpdyp]

While I agree that smoking around our children is not only unhealthy but sets a very bad example. I also would find it very intrusive to have the Government tell me I can't smoke in my home. I quit smoking in Novenber of 2003 because of a new addition to my family. I would not allow anyone to smoke near him including my wife. But I believe that not smoking around children can be acheived by education not by passing more laws.

[sublime_serenity75]

I'm an avid cigar smoker. I probably have 3-400 of them and I enjoy the hobby immensely. I have always gone outside to enjoy my stogies and ahve never smoked inside. Cigar smoke is twice as bad as regular cigarette smoke and I have two rugrats at home. I do have relatives who have six children and it's obvious to see what second hand smoke has done. Low-birth weight problems has plagued a few of the children who are still undersized for what they are supposed to be if you check average height and weight at their given ages. They also are more susceptible to throat and sinus infections. I doubt anyone would argue that second-hand smoke is good for you, or for your kids.

I believe people, not government should be the final decisionmakers about this. If we do ban it, then what is next? If you feed junior bacon more than once in a row for breakfast, will social services come in and watch you cook breakfast? The slippery slope on this one has me concerned a bit. I do agree that some parents just won't "get it" no matter what. I think that's where peer pressure from friends and families come into play.

[warden]

Great idea,but how many would stick to it when it is pelting down with rain outside,oh ill just have one .

My wife smokes in the house infront of me ans my 3 kids and i think we have just got used to it,you relise how much damage it will be doing to the kids and i when you take down pictures when you are going to paint and you see the difference in the colour ,the amount of nicoteen that we must be inhailing must be doing some damage

[girty1600]

The idea to ban smoking in a home with children is a horrible concept. Who will enforce such law? Will you call the police on your neighbor because he might be smoking in his home? I think education is the answer. If you are a smoker you should have enough common sense not to blow smoke in your child's face. Take it outside or at least away from the kids.

[Seraphina]

But I believe that not smoking around children can be acheived by education not by passing more laws.

For once, we're actually in agreement...while I do think there are a lot of unbelievably stupid people out there who do, in fact, smoke around their children (in fact, I personally know at least three or four), I would rather see the government taking greater steps to educate people on what exactly they're doing to their child, than setting a potentially dangerous precedent of starting to tell people what they can and cannot do in the privacy of their own homes...

If there was some kind of guarentee that this would be the only time the government would interfere in that particular territory, then I'd agree with it....otherwise, no, 'fraid not.

[SCARLET1]

I agree with ya'll...smoking is bad, and in a perfect world, shouldn't exist.

However, (and I'm not trying to detrect from smoking here) I have seen what too much carbonated beverage or sugar or junk food or _insert bad habit here_ can do to people, and especially children.

In fact, there is a certain couple I know who have 2 autistic children. They give them Pepsi whenEVER they want it (up to 6 or 7 cans a day), so they don't have an "episode". Now, I'm not qualified to disagree with this, but man...that can't be good for them at ALL. BTW, the father, mother, and older son (who is also developmentally disabled), and the 2 autistic boys are ALL overweight.

I also agree that government is already involved enough in our lives...we don't need them spying on us in our homes (and being a conspiracy theorist, I believe they already are, anyway -- LOL!) to make sure our kids are "never" exposed to anything potentially harmful to them. Education is the key, however, look at how well education is working when it comes to teenage mothers and the like. Not that I'm disagreeing with it...aaagghh...I'm probably just going to make people mad with this whole post...I'm sorry.

*walks off mumbling*

~Scarlet~

[Rachael]

My Dad was a chain smoker - I have memories of our winters with everything closed up - of the house billowing in smoke.

I think I was addicted to nicotine before i left the nest!

Now I find it hard to quit.

As for smoking inside - NEVER! Always outside on the patio - and I chase the kids away when they hang around me smoking!

I think it is unfair and abusive to smoke inside a house with anyone being a non-smoker living there!

And I am all for the new laws here in Australia - where they prohibit you from smoking in playgrounds, 2 mtres from the door of a restaurant etc etc......

[V for Vanity]

Kids should be outside anyway.

do you know how stupid that sounds? leave kids outside all day? (especially infants) wtf?

691138[/snapback]

It's not the children who should go outside it's the smokers.

My parents are smokers but they do it outside, never near us.

[Commander CMG]

Kids should be outside anyway.

691090[/snapback]

I don't even keep my Dog outside?

[hunterkiller2001]

I think this FWD email covers everything.. so I'll just quote it..

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the

1930's 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and The Early 80's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they  carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored  lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we  rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took  hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE  actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, twinkies, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but  we weren't overweight because  WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back  when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.    And we were O.K. There was only one phone in the house and you asked permission to use it.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down  the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the  bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no  99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell  phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat  rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no  lawsuits from these accidents.

 

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,  made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang  the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't  had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They  actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers  and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO  DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as  kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good  and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

My personal feelings: If you want to ultimately protect your children, then don't have any!!!

[twpdyp]

Seraphina Posted Jun 22 2005, 04:39 PM

 

But I believe that not smoking around children can be acheived by education not by passing more laws.

For once, we're actually in agreement...

Seraphina

I may just fall over dead, we are in actual agreement. I knew we could find common ground somewhere.

I am really smiling

[lp21why]

I think this FWD email covers everything.. so I'll just quote it..

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the

1930's 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and The Early 80's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they  carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored  lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we  rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took  hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE  actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, twinkies, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but  we weren't overweight because  WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back  when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.    And we were O.K. There was only one phone in the house and you asked permission to use it.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down  the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the  bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no  99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell  phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat  rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no  lawsuits from these accidents.

 

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,  made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang  the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't  had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They  actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers  and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO  DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as  kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good  and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

My personal feelings: If you want to ultimately protect your children, then don't have any!!!

699440[/snapback]

Times have changed a lot. What about all these people who later in life get health problems? I have lost family members from cancer and they all smoked. My parents smoke like chimneys and I feel short of breath a lot of the time, I put this down to my parents smoking. And your last comment was stupid, what parent wouldn't want to protect their kids? Very ignorant ones, so we should let only these parents have kids because the rest want to protect them?

Smoking can seriously damage anyones health, even those around it. I do agree we should do something to help stop it but I don't think a ban would work.

[hunterkiller2001]

The question I need to ask is a simple : Hypothetically speaking, if I were to have a child, how could anyone even dream of enforcing such a law? Would some underpaid little stateworker risk his life to walk into my house to "test for evidence cigarettes had been used"?

I mean come on.. this is a lot harder then those stupid "no smoking in public buildings" laws that NY and CA have.. and believe me, the one in NY isn't follow.. Chain resturants may follow it.. but a lot of private or family owned places ignore it.. and when they get caught, the sue NY state because it's unconstitutional for the government to tell you what to do on your own property. and they win.

[Commander CMG]

The question I need to ask is a simple : Hypothetically speaking, if I were to have a child, how could anyone even dream of enforcing such a law? Would some underpaid little stateworker risk his life to walk into my house to "test for evidence cigarettes had been used"?

I mean come on.. this is a lot harder then those stupid "no smoking in public buildings" laws that NY and CA have.. and believe me, the one in NY isn't follow..  Chain resturants may follow it..  but a lot of private or family owned places ignore it.. and when they get caught, the sue NY state because it's unconstitutional for the government to tell you what to do on your own property. and they win.

701114[/snapback]

There is no way of enforcing such a law, but setting a foundation in place would would be a start.

[riotboy555]

While I don't think it's right to smoke around a child, what people do in their homes should be their own business.

Kids should be outside anyway.

691090[/snapback]

Agreed.

[Commander CMG]

What a ridculous comment keeping kids outside so you can smoke inside do you know how stupid that sounds?

Edited June 27, 2005 by XSAS

[hunterkiller2001]

What a ridculous comment keeping kids outside so you can smoke inside do you know how stupid that sounds?

not stupid at all.. or was your mother one of the ones that never let you outside because she was afraid of germs, strangers, bugs, animals, killer bees.. or the fact that you could actually hurt yourself if you had fun as a kid?