QuitKidsSmoking
QuitKidsSmoking is an advocacy group centered around the focus of secondhand smoking and protecting minors in the states of Missouri and Kansas.
What is QuitKidsSmoking
An advocacy group centered around protecting minors from second hand smoke.
Legislation
A bill to Ban adults from using substances such as, but not limited to, Tobacco, Marijuana, Nicotine inside an enclosed vehicle with a minor (age of 21 because of T21) present.
As a group we thought a lot about how we wanted to make this bill fair to everyone. We did not want to target certain groups because some of us being minorities we know how that feels. This is why our bill will not criminalize an individual. It will simply make the individual pay a fine and if not financially able to pay a fine go through 4 sessions about why second hand smoke is dangerous and why smoking and using harmful substances in cars with minors is harmful.
Research
For years secondhand smoke has been an undermined issue in society but it is too important to be overlooked. Smoke in vehicles is dangerous because it's such a small space so the carcinogens gather up and become even more dangerous. When the windows are closed in a vehicle, the carcinogens that gather are a health risk to everyone. Banning some instances of smoking in vehicles eliminates the chances that employees at drive-thrus will be vulnerable to smoke, that children with health disease will be vulnerable, and it decreases the amount of pollution released into the environment.
The level of carcinogens is 100 times the recommended amount with the windows closed and with the windows open it's still twice the recommended amount. This poses a serious health concern to minors and sensitive groups but with the windows closed it's a threat to everyone. It also causes environmental pollution, abuses the rights of minors, and hurts employees at drive-thrus.
Harvard School of Public Health Study of Smoking in Cars with Kids
A 2006 study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found “alarming” levels of secondhand smoke were generated in just five minutes in vehicles under various driving, ventilation, and smoking conditions.5 That study also made the following findings:
The average levels of respirable particulate matter (the pollution inhaled from secondhand smoke) in the vehicles was actually higher than that found in similar studies of smoking in bars in several towns in eastern Massachusetts. In addition, the levels of particulate matter found in the vehicles exceeded those levels described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “unhealthy for sensitive groups” such as children and the elderly.
The researchers found that the pollution levels detected “highlight the potentially serious threat to children’s health presented by secondhand smoke in private cars under normal driving conditions.”
In addition to “alarming” increases of respirable particulate matter, the researchers also found a “significant increase” in levels of carbon monoxide. The researchers point out that carbon monoxide “is a poisonous gas, which may cause coma and death in large amounts, but among infants is known to induce lethargy and loss of alertness even in small quantities.”
Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded that “smoking in cars under typical driver and traffic conditions provides potentially unsafe secondhand smoke exposure.”
Studies Addressing Secondhand Smoke in Cars
In 2020, a CDC analysis reported a significant decline in SHS exposure in a vehicle in the last 7 days among US middle and high school students between 2011 (30.2%) and 2018 (19.8%), yet still in 2019 approximately 6 million (23.3%) students still reported SHS exposure in a vehicle in the last 7 days.
A 2008 study examining secondhand smoke exposure in cars found that it reached unhealthy levels even under varying ventilation conditions. Smoking just one cigarette in a vehicle far exceeded fine particle exposure limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and raised secondhand smoke levels several times higher than levels found in smoky bars and restaurants.
In 2006, researchers presented a study in which they found secondhand smoke in cars under all conditions tested reached unhealthy levels, even with ventilation. Extremely high levels of particulate matter were recorded in cars with tobacco smoke, putting all riders, particularly children, at an increased health risk.
A study published by The New Zealand Medical Journal found that smoking in a car with the window open produced air quality five times worse than even on the poorest air quality days in Auckland. Furthermore, it found that air quality was up to 100 times worse with all car windows closed. The study suggests adopting laws to make cars smoke-free in order to protect children and non-smokers from air pollution resulting from smoking in cars.
A study published in 2008 examined residual smoke pollution in used cars. The authors found significantly higher levels of nicotine in the air, dust, and surfaces of used cars that had been owned by smokers than in cars previously owned by nonsmokers who prohibited smoking in their vehicle.
What change are we making?
QuitKidsSmoking
Thesis:
A legislative Bill that bans adults from using any substance containing but not limited to nicotine, tobacco, and/ or marijunna in any enclosed vehicle with minors (age of 21) present.
Survey Results:
94.4% of our survey sample tells us that it bothers them when adults smoke in cars while minors are present.
77.3% of our sample size tells us that it bothers them when people smoke in the car while they are present.
Enforcement:
This law would be very similar to the seatbelt law and would be enforced as such.
This bill would not add additional traffic stops, but if someone is pulled over for any reason and they happen to be smoking in the presence of a minor, they will receive a ticket.
This bill is meant to be about education, not incrimination.