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March 24th, 2010 |

A bunch of ‘leading doctors’ have written to The Times asking for a ban on smoking in cars and public places where there are children.

It’s my belief that they should be more concerned about the particulates from traffic causing “More than 22,000 children (to) seek medical help for asthma and wheezing as a result of passive smoking every year…”

One of the comments on said article sums it up quite reasonably: “A single car idling in the traffic does a child far, far more harm with its toxic fumes than does a single cigarette being smoked in the child’s vicinity, and as for cigarettes being smoked in the open air, which is itself foul with the reek and poison of tens of thousands of cars, lorries and buses - as I say, insanity and malice make for a toxic mix all of their own. Before banning smoking in parks (a ban I shall ignore, as I shall any ban in my own car, which hasn’t seen a child in many a year), let us ban cars, lorries and buses, for they are responsible for the fact that London, for example, has the most dangerous and polluted air of any European capital.” - and when London Mayor Boris tried to do something about the capital’s fug he was stopped even though Kate Ravenscroft, Asthma UK’s campaigns manager said at the time: “Two thirds of people with asthma say that traffic fumes trigger their symptoms…”

And it’s not as if MP’s don’t know about air pollution deaths - 50,000 a year according to a report - but then again the government had been breaking EU air quality laws for more than a decade.

How many doctors and other anti-smoking lobbyists drive? I’m guessing a lot. Have a look at what they put into the air everytime they drive their vehicle…

Diesel exhaust: Carbon (soot)/Nitrogen/Water/Carbon monoxide/Aldehydes/Nitrogen dioxide/Sulphur dioxide/Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Petrol Exhaust: Carbon Monoxide/Nitrogen dioxide/Sulphur dioxide/Suspended particles including PM-10/Benzene/Formaldehyde/Polycyclic hydrocarbons

Studies have shown that diesel can cause a number of health issues over a period of time as does petrol engine exhausts; formaldehyde for one is a carcinogen.

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