Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson isn’t a proponent for more laws and rules, especially those he believes will be hard to enforce. But he also doesn’t want children to be in a situation where they can develop or worsen existing asthma, he said.
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“We know second-hand smoke is not good,” Patterson said. “Any time we have the opportunity to cut down a child’s chance of breathing in second-hand smoke is a good thing.”
About 20 percent of all Clark County adults are smokers, according to the 2016 County Health Rankings.
Not only do smokers hurt their children, Patterson said, they’re hurting themselves.
“I don’t want them to have cancer, heart disease and COPD as chronic illness that they have to deal with later in life,” he said. “If people were exposed more often to people that have emphysema, COPD, heart disease and cancer … maybe they would think twice about continuing to smoke cigarettes.”
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Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah and Vermont have adopted restrictions on smoking with minors in vehicles, Tavares said, though the age threshold set by those states ranges from 8 to 17.
“We want to be in a leadership position as a state, rather than be one of the last states to protect the health and well-being of our children,” Tavares said.
Some critics say the proposal is represents a “nanny state.” But Tavares said adults can smoke when kids aren’t in the car or they can pull over and step out to smoke, she said.
“It is very dangerous and it is going to impact the health and well-being of that child,” she said. “It is a public health issue.”
The bill, introduced this week, has support from just three other Democrats and there are no Republican co-sponsors — a signal that the legislation faces an uphill battle. Tavares introduced a similar bill last legislative session but it received only one hearing.
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The bill covers smoking cigars, cigarettes, pipes or “other lighted smoking device for burning tobacco or any other plant.” A first offense could result in a $500 fine and subsequent violations could bring $750 in fines.
Second-hand smoke leads to asthma, ear infections and other health problems, said Dr. Rob Crane, a family physician at Ohio State University and founder of Preventing Tobacco Addiction.
“Think about the 3-year-old involuntary passenger in a smoke-filled car. The data are pretty clear that second-hand smoke is harmful,” he said.
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