SB7 introduced by Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) would ban smoking inside automobiles when there are children inside. While anything that reduces the harmful effects of tobacco is a good thing, one has to wonder whether the CA State Legislature is missing the forest for the trees.
Smog and air pollution from automobiles has been shown to be extremely injurious to childrens’ health. Several studies in recent years have found living near freeways and busy roads causes lung damage in children. Thomas H. Maugh II reports in the January 26, 2007 issue of the Los Angeles Times:
In the largest and longest study of its kind, USC researchers have found that children living near busy highways have significant impairments in the development of their lungs that can lead to respiratory problems for the rest of their lives. The 13-year study of more than 3,600 children in 12 Central and Southern California communities found that the damage from living within 500 yards of a freeway is about the same as that from living in communities with the highest pollution levels, the team reported Thursday in the online version of the medical journal Lancet. “If you live in a high-pollution area and live near a busy road, you get a doubling” of the damage, said lead author W. James Gauderman, an epidemiologist at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Someone suffering a pollution-related deficit in lung function as a child will probably have less than healthy lungs all of his or her life,” he said. The greatest damage appears to be in the small airways of the lung and is normally associated with the fine particulate matter emitted by automobiles.
“Even if you are in a relatively low regional pollution area, living
near a road produces [lung problems],” Gauderman said.
The results were also independent of the children’s initial health
and whether they were smokers. “This suggests that all children,
not just susceptible subgroups, are potentially affected by traffic
exposure,” Gauderman said.
This raises an interesting question. Is second-hand cigarette smoke more toxic than automobile exhaust? Perhaps the only safe course of action is to keep kids out of cars altogether.