OLR Report 2012-R-0541 describes laws in other states banning smoking in vehicles when children are present and summarizes any data on the effects of such laws.
Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have each enacted such legislation. The maximum age of children covered varies from 13 to 18. Fines range from $25 in Arkansas to a maximum of $250 in Puerto Rico (for a first offender).
According to the advocacy group Global Advisors for Smokefree Policy, legislation banning smoking in cars with children has been proposed in 21 states, including Connecticut. In addition, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (national center), a division of the national Centers for Disease Control (CDC), reports that six states and the District of Columbia restrict smoking in vehicles carrying children in the care of childcare facilities. We have attached the center's list of state restrictions on smoking in motor vehicles in effect as of June 30, 2012.
We were unable to find any studies that specifically address the effectiveness of banning smoking in vehicles. However, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent board of experts appointed by the CDC director, strongly recommends smoking bans and restrictions “on the basis of strong scientific evidence that they reduce exposure” to second-hand smoke (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/tobacco/Tobacco.pdf). In addition, a number of studies have noted the dangers of second-hand smoke in general, and of second-hand smoke in vehicles in particular.
“Second-hand smoke exposure is associated with acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, delayed lung growth, and more severe asthma,” a 2012 study noted. “Nonsmoking youth are…particularly vulnerable to second-hand smoke due to their limited ability to avoid smoke-permitted environments, higher breathing rates, and the developing nature of their respiratory, immune, and nervous systems.”
Researchers say that second-hand smoke can be particularly hazardous in the relatively confined space of a car. Opening car windows or vents can reduce, but not eliminate, the danger. A 2011 research paper that monitored car trips involving smokers found that the concentration of fine particulate matter in cars where smoking occurred greatly exceeded international indoor air quality standards and posed a health threat to children. Similarly, the national center states that smoking just one cigarette in a vehicle with the windows closed can generate more than 100 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 24-hour recommended exposure limit to fine particles. These particles, about 1/30th the width of an average human hair, contain cancer-causing chemicals, and can lodge deep in a person's lungs, irritating the respiratory system.
A Pediatrics study whose results were published online in February 2012, found that “despite a significant decrease in second-hand smoke exposure in cars among non-smoking U.S. middle and high school students between the years of 2000 and 2009, that in 2009, more than one-fifth of these students were still exposed to second-hand smoke in a car in the previous seven days.” http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0334.pdf.
For more information, read the full report.
