I’ve never been a smoker myself, but I’ve known many, hung around many, and used to laugh off their secondhand smoke. But as I grew older, and as smoking became more socially frowned upon, my friends gave up their habits and I found that my life improved as well. No more stinky clothes or stinky hair just from hanging out with friends!
Here’s the thing, though. I had a choice about whether I wanted to be around smokers or not. Kids don’t always have that option. If their folks have a habit, they’re going to be exposed to secondhand smoke, too. And that’s not good.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, secondhand smoke has killed 2.5 million non-smokers in the U.S. since 1964.
It’s awful, awful stuff. You don’t have to be the one sucking on a cigarette to suffer. The CDC says secondhand smoke “contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic and about 70 cause cancer.”
It can also cause a host of issues for kids in particular.
Infants and children exposed to secondhand smoke can expect “more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),” according to the CDC .
In fact, some say exposing kids to secondhand smoke is basically child abuse .
Well, an Indiana State Senator is trying to reduce the likelihood that kids will be forced to breathe in secondhand smoke when they’re in the car with a smoker.
State Senator Jim Merritt introduced a bill that would make it illegal to smoke in a vehicle if there are kids under six inside. The first offense would come with a $1,000 fine, and a third offense over the next 12 months would come with a $10,000 fine.
Indiana would join eight other states that have already banned smoking in cars when kids are along for the ride.
It’s amazing that it’s not banned in more states, to be honest. But Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia led the way — all have laws against smoking in cars when kids are on board already, as does Puerto Rico, according to Legal Beagle .
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However, Senator Merritt admits that the law might not be enforceable, but that’s not the point.
“Smoking is a danger to yourself as well as others, and to be riding along in a car and getting second-hand smoke is just not acceptable for anyone but more so for children who just don’t have a choice,” he said, according to WIBC . “I want to say to mom and dad [that] this is not right.”
While laws against putting kids in danger should be no-brainers, many states have had trouble passing laws so far.
Ohio introduced legislation similar to Indiana’s in 2018, one that many smokers support, too. That law would levy a $500 fine for a first time infraction and $750 for each subsequent infraction, but many think that fine isn’t steep enough, according to WTOV .
Alabama has also looked at joining the no-smoking-in-cars-with-kids club.
The state’s House of Representatives actually passed a bill that would fine adults smoking in a car with kids under 19 $100, but the bill didn’t make it through the State Senate .
And a bill in Mississippi similar to Indiana’s went down in defeat as well.
Advocates for the law pointed to one big reason they couldn’t pass the bill: the tobacco lobby. “The tobacco industry would be against something like this is because it would infringe on an individual’s rights,” Sandra Shelson of Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi told WMC Action News 5 .
Individual rights are certainly an important consideration, but it’s still a bit surprising that a child’s right to breathe is so controversial. So it’s worth watching to see what happens in Indiana going forward.
