ASH PR: Smoking Foes Are Banning Smoking in Homes Around Kids
ATTN: Health, Legal, Consumer, National Editors “No Smoking at Home” Rules Spreading - Now in 23 States

As the Washington Times reports this morning, smoking foes are increasing succeeding in banning smoking by parents around their children, even in the family home and car. This very successful movement was started by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a national nonsmokers' rights organization.
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20051215-112826-9119r.htm

With all the emphasis on banning smoking in public places like restaurants and bars, there has been less attention focused on the growing phenomena of prohibitions on smoking in private residences, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of ASH.

However, such bans have now been ordered in 23 states which contain a majority of the population. Eight states have banned or are about to ban all smoking in private residences when foster children are present, and many local jurisdictions are taking similar action.

San Luis Obispo has just joined Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in California in enacting such bans. The San Luis Obispo measure was passed without objection and with the support of foster parents, and was strongly supported in a poll. Other states have announced plans for similar bans

In addition, in at least 17 states, smoking has been banned by court orders in private residences to protect children from the now clearly-documented dangers of secondhand tobacco smoke. The orders are typically issued in cases of contested custody where one party is subjecting the child to secondhand smoke. In some cases, parents have lost custody over the smoking issue.

"In appropriate situations smoking can be banned even in private residences where it is necessary to protect young children," says law professor John Banzhaf of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). ASH, a national antismoking organization, triggered and now supports the movement to raise smoking as an issue in custody disputes, and has filed legal petitions asking states to prohibit smoking in cars and in homes where foster children are present.

"Smoking around young children, and forcing them to inhale a toxic and carcinogenic substance which has been shown to kill thousands of youngsters every year and sicken hundreds of thousands, can be prohibited as a form of child abuse, just as the use of drugs, inappropriate sexual activity by adults around children, overindulgence of alcohol, and even unsanitary cooking and hygiene practices can be where it affects children," says Banzhaf.

A list of the 23 states where smoking has been prohibited in private homes to protect children appears below. "C" indicates that it occurred in a custody dispute, "F" indicates a law or regulation prohibiting smoking around foster children, and "P" indicates that such a law or regulation is pending.

Since the list includes many of the most populous states like California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania, more than half of the U.S. population lives in a state where such protections for children have or are about to be ordered, and there clearly is no legal right to smoke, says Banzhaf, noting that every court asked to declare that there is a legal right to smoke has refused to.

LIST OF STATES BANNING SMOKING IN PRIVATE RESIDENCES: Arkansas (P), Arizona (P), California (C), Florida (C), Illinois (C), Louisiana (C), Maine (F), Maryland (C), Massachusetts (C), Michigan (C), Missouri (C), Nebraska (P), New Jersey (C), New York (C), Ohio (C), Oklahoma (F), Oregon (C&P), Pennsylvania (C), South Carolina (C), Tennessee (C), Texas (C), Vermont (F), Washington (C&P).

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)

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