‘Car smoking ban will protect children’ – Ritchie

South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has said she will support a vote at Westminster today in favour of a legal ban on smoking in cars carrying children.

Ritchie told Newry Times she believed that children should be protected from smoking.

Ritchie said, “We’ve heard from doctors who say being in an enclosed space like a car significantly worsened the harm done to children by cigarette smoke, and we are all aware of the harm smoking has in general on our health.

“I can’t imagine any responsible parent offering their child a cigarette, but why should children be forced to sit in a car when someone is smoking and have their developing lungs fill with smoke?”

Ritchie added, “It is abuse and must be tackled, especially when you consider many children are too young to know the harm smoking can do and too afraid to speak up if they do object. It is important to set a precedent which I why I will be supporting this vote.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Feb 10 2014. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry