Doctors want Manitoba ban on smoking in cars with kids aboard

The president of the Manitoba Medical Association wants the provincial government to follow the lead of other jurisdictions and ban smoking in vehicles carrying children.

The government has put into place other laws protecting children in cars, and banning smoking should be the next step, Dr. Darcy Johnson said Wednesday.

"Children strapped in car seats don't have a choice, and I think we have to take the high road here and do what's in the best interest," Johnson said.

"We certainly have made other things compulsory. You have to wear seat belts, you have to have car seats for children. This is just one more form of protection we need to offer kids in vehicles."

Exposure to second-hand smoke increases a child's risk of developing asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, and other health problems, Johnson said.

If Manitoba has seen fit to protect adults from second-hand smoke — a provincewide ban on smoking in public places was implemented in 2004, in part to protect non-smoking workers — it should do the same for children, he said.

"It's important that we afford children who don't have a choice the same protection that the government has given to adults in the workplace," he said.

Ontario's government will introduce legislation this spring to ban smoking in cars where young children are present, the province's premier announced Wednesday.

Nova Scotia banned smoking in cars with children in January, and the B.C. government pledged in its recent throne speech to enact a similar ban. New Brunswick is also considering a ban.