Local advocates target car smokers

Sponsors sought for bill outlawing cigarette use when kids are passengers

ROB CARSON; rob.carson@thenewstribune.com
Last updated: January 4th, 2009 12:49 AM (PST)

“They need to know it’s not OK to poison children,” she said.

Washington smokers, harried from one sanctuary to another over the past few years, soon might lose one of their last remaining safe spots to light up.

Anti-smoking groups and health officials are rounding up sponsors for a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would outlaw smoking in vehicles when children are passengers.

Tests have shown that air pollution in smokers’ cars can reach levels nearly 10 times the hazardous levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Studies also indicate children are more at risk than adults for adverse health effects of secondhand smoke, ranging from ear infections to asthma and bronchitis.

Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or cancer-causing, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide, according to a 2006 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report.

“We know how damaging it is and how dangerous it is,” Henson said. “Can you choose to kill children? They are prisoners in your car.”

In September, the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health passed a resolution encouraging people to refrain from smoking in vehicles occupied by children, becoming the first health board in the state to take a formal stand on the issue.

The health board subsequently launched a public education campaign warning about the dangers of smoking in cars, including print advertisements, signs on buses and, starting Friday, television spots on local Comcast channels.

But backers of the proposed law say education is not enough.

“Some people, you can’t reach unless you have a law,” said Leonard Sanderson, a member of the Tobacco Advisory Board and a former mayor of Milton. “They’re just going to do it anyway.”

Most likely, Sanderson said, the wording of the proposed law will make smoking in a car with kids a secondary offense, meaning drivers would be cited only in conjunction with some other offense, such as speeding.

“It’s easier to promote something like this and encourage it though the least onerous route,” Sanderson said. “Just saying, ‘You’re going to go to jail if you smoke in a car with kids,’ is not the way to approach it.”

If the law passes, Washington would be the fifth state in the country to enact such legislation.

In 2007, Arkansas and Louisiana passed laws prohibiting drivers from smoking in cars with children. California and Maine passed similar laws in 2008.

Backers say they don’t expect any organized opposition to the proposal, unlike the anti-smoking initiative voters approved in 2005, which was fiercely resisted by some business owners.

Washington’s Initiative 901 expanded a ban on smoking in public places to include schools, bars, taverns, bowling alleys, casinos, reception areas, 75 percent of the rooms in hotels and motels, and places of employment.

The initiative also banned smoking within 25 feet of entrances, exits, open windows and ventilation intakes of buildings where smoking is prohibited.

Sanderson thinks the new proposal has a good chance of passing.

“Our biggest challenge is going to be getting the attention of the Legislature, with all the financial issues they’ll have to be dealing with,” he said. “The problem will be competition rather than opposition.”

A similar bill introduced in the 2008 died in committee.

It wasn’t because of opposition, Sanderson said.

“I think they just flat ran out of time,” he said.

Rob Carson: 253-597-8693

Originally published: January 4th, 2009 12:29 AM (PST)