Cigs for kids Those of you living out of Astro vans with tinfoil on the windows will undoubtedly see it as a vast left-wing plot to deny you of your rights, but the Canadian province of Ontario is looking at legislation which will ban smoking in cars when children under the age of 16 are aboard.
According to Canwest News Service, ?An Act to protect children from second-hand tobacco smoke in motor vehicles by amending the Smoke-Free Ontario Act? [sic], ?if passed, would prohibit smoking in vehicles when a person under 16 is present in any vehicle, either moving or stationary, even if a window, door or sunroof were opened.?
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty had previously taken the Ted Kaczynski position, and stated that the law would be an unwarranted intrusion of the state into a private citizen?s affairs, but flip-flopped when he actually considered the facts.
?One hour of second-hand smoke in a car is the same as giving kids an entire pack of cigarettes,? said McGuinty.
A study from University of Waterloo concluded that not only is the environment in a car with a smoker vastly more toxic than any smoke-filled bar, but that rolling down windows or turning on the fan made little difference.
Ontario isn?t the first to float the idea: Similar measures already exist in Nova Scotia, Yukon, Arkansas, California, Maine, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, South Australia and Tasmania. Details of the bill can be found at
- By David Traver Adolphus