THE POLICE and the Health Ministry yesterday warned they would start implementing the law fining drivers that smoke in their cars with children under the age of 16 on board.
They were responding to a campaign about children and passive smoking launched yesterday by the Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Friends (PASYKAF).
The campaign, under the slogan, “Cigarette smoke? Stay away from us!” will run until December. It seeks to mobilise the public to avoid smoking in the house, in the car and more widely in the environment of children.
The chairman of the Association, Dr Anna Achilleoudi, said that “there are no safe limits to exposing children to cigarette smoke. The only effective protection is a 100 per cent smoke free environment.”
The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the harm that passive smoking can cause children, encouraging a change of attitude among smokers to avoid smoking at home, in the car and anywhere around children.
It also wants strict implementation of the law that bans smoking in a vehicle where children under the age of 16 are on board.
Health Minister Christos Patsalides and Traffic Police Commander Demetris Demetriou said yesterday they were committed to the strict application of the law.
“Fighting smoking is one of the priorities of the Health Ministry,” said Patsalides… “People should think of their child’s health, and the Ministry will always support such efforts”
Demetriou said that, “The police, in its effort to support life, has intensified its efforts. In 2006, 325 people were booked for smoking in public places, and in 2007, 1,414. Starting tomorrow we will implement the legislation of fining people that smoke with children in the car.”
Achilleoudi added that “Five in ten children globally, are exposed to passive smoking, eight in ten in Eastern Europe”
According to international figures, 700 million children – almost half the children in the world – breathe air polluted cigarette smoke every day.
The numbers are especially startling in Cyprus, as it has the second highest number of smokers according to population in the European Union.
Of the more than 4,000 chemicals present in cigarette smoke, more than 60 have been identified as carcinogenic.
Second-hand smoke has a marked effect on the health of infants and children. They are more vulnerable than adults because they’re still developing physically and generally have higher breathing rates, which means they may inhale greater quantities of second hand smoke than adults. Also, a child’s organism cannot process the harmful substances so easily, ensuring these chemicals remain in the organism for a longer period.
Selected chemical toxic substances from passive smoking
Cigarette smoke contains
Also found in
Acetone
Paint stripper
Arsenic
Ant poison
Butane
Lighter fuel
Cadmium
Batteries
Carbon monoxide
Car exhaust fumes
DDT
Insecticide
Formaldehyde
Embalming fluid
Hydrogen cyanide
Capital punishment by gas
Methanol
Rocket fuel
Nicotine
Cockroach poison
Phenol
Toilet bowl disinfectant
Propylene glycol
Antifreeze
Toluene
Industrial solvent
Vinyl chloride
Plastics
