Bedford Driving Lessons

Smoking in the homes of children and the cars they travel in should be restricted to protect them from second-hand smoke, says Wales’ top doctor. Chief Medical Officer for Wales Dr Tony Jewell said it was “unfair for children to bear the brunt of other people’s habits”. Wales brought in a ban on smoking in enclosed public places in April 2007. A senior environmental health officer said any legislation controlling behaviour in homes would be “despised”. In his annual report, Dr Jewell said the number of deaths from smoking in Wales is still too high at about 5,650 a year. He said smoking costs the Welsh NHS around £386m a year, equivalent to £129 per person or 7% of total healthcare expenditure. He said people “know that smoking is a dangerous habit, but choose to ignore the facts”. But children had an increased risk of asthma, middle ear infections and cot death when exposed to second-hand smoke and were then also more likely to become smokers as adults, said Dr Jewell. In his 2009 annual report to be published later, he said the proposed ban on tobacco vending machines and shop promotions for tobacco products “goes some way in addressing the problem but we must go further”. He said if the assembly government extended the ban on smoking to private cars and encouraged smoke-free policies in homes where children live, it would help to discourage children from taking up smoking themselves in later life and may help some adults to quit. More