Massachusetts General Hospital

Children held captive in smoky vehicles

Research highlights need for smoke-free car laws, public health campaigns to protect youngsters from toxins

01/May/2011

It is absolutely unacceptable to subject children to any tobacco smoke exposure in cars, according to the authors of an abstract to be presented May 1 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver.  

"An infant strapped into a car seat is involuntarily and intensely exposed to more than 400 toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke," said abstract co-author Jonathan P. Winickoff, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP. "They have no voice and no choice in whether their parents smoke in the car."

link to full American Academy of Pediatrics news release