Countries initiate fresh efforts to exclude tobacco use within motor vehicles
The North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) health ministry is once again championing a proposal to ban smoking in cars when minors or pregnant women are present. This latest effort is part of a long-standing effort by federal states to expand the non-smoking protection act.
Karl-Josef Laumann, the current NRW Health Minister, has stated that smoking in the presence of children or pregnant women in cars is irresponsible. He believes the move is necessary to protect the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals.
The ministry's draft, which estimates that approximately one million minors in Germany are exposed to tobacco smoke in cars, highlights the dangers associated with secondhand smoke. Damage to the lungs, increased cancer risk, and growth disorders are among the health issues linked to passive smoking.
In closed spaces like cars, minors and unborn children are more exposed to secondhand smoke. Research shows that tobacco smoke pollution in closed passenger compartments can reach several times that of a heavily smoked pub within a few minutes of smoking a single cigarette.
This increased exposure puts minors at a higher risk of cancer and other health problems. Minors whose parents smoke are more likely to develop liver tumors or leukemia due to secondhand smoke. Unborn children, too, cannot protect themselves from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
The state has a special protective duty towards those who cannot protect themselves from secondhand smoke. In July 2023, the Health Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia shifted to support introducing a ban on smoking in cars when children or pregnant women are present, joining other states like Lower Saxony and Bavaria in proposing this protection at the federal level in the Bundesrat.
If the Bundesrat approves the bill, the Bundestag will be next in line to consider the amendment to the federal non-smoking protection act. The Bundesrat decided in March 2022 to submit a corresponding bill to the Bundestag. The application will be submitted on September 26 in the state chamber.
However, a similar draft from the office of the then health minister, Karl Lauterbach (SPD), in the summer of 2023 did not come about due to the federal government change in the last legislative period. The hope now is that this latest attempt will be successful in protecting the health and well-being of minors and pregnant women in cars.
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