Smoking in a Car Can Be "Child Abuse" as Royal College of General Practitioners Head Reported

Aug. 12, 2010 - PRLog -- The head of the Royal College of General Practitioners has reminded his members that parents who smoke in cars when their kids are present may be guilty of child abuse, a situation which the Children Act 1989 requires be reported to authorities, suggests public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who notes that Dr. Steve Field's statement is consistent with the law both in Britain and in the U.S., where such complaints have in fact been filed and acted upon.

Although a growing number of prominent people and organizations have now recognized that subjecting a child to tobacco smoke may constitute child abuse, and in a few cases reports of child abuse based upon tobacco smoke have been filed in the U.S., many people find it difficult to accept. This seems to be because their mental image of child abuse is formed from what they see on television or reported in newspapers.  But, of course, what is reported as news are only the most unusual and sensational examples: e.g., children deliberately burned, kept locked in cages or closets, etc.

Actually, authorities regularly receive from police, physicians, and other sources reports of much more common forms of child abuse including: leaving a young child alone for longer than is considered safe and prudent, failure to have a functioning refrigerator or to refrigerate perishable foods, spoiled food remnants on the floor, exits blocked or otherwise inaccessible to young children, etc.

Banzhaf notes that all such situations involve the potential for harm rather than actual harm itself, and perhaps none is as serious as exposing a child with asthma or other conditions to concentrated cigarette smoke in a car where the levels of exposure can easily exceed ten times the level the EPA classifies as "HAZARDOUS." http://ash.org/carsmoking and http://vimeo.com/1513382



The threshold for reporting in many states is very low.  In one state doctors must report all but the most negligible or de minimis injuries to children, including even minor bruising.  In another, harm isn't even required since doctors must report even threatened harm, or any situation creating an unreasonable risk to a child's health.

In Britain reporting can been required if a baby's diapers are not being changed frequently enough, children are not dressed warmly enough in cold weather, etc.

Banzhaf notes that a parent who deliberately exposed a child to the fumes of peanuts after being warned by a physician that it can trigger anaphylactic shock would be reported by the treating physician as child abuse, and suggests that the same should apply if a parent with an asthmatic child smokes with him in the car and triggers an asthmatic attack requiring medical attention.  "Deliberately exposing a sensitive child to something very likely to harm him is child abuse," he argues.

Dr. Field reported that "evidence from the US indicates that more young children are killed by parental smoking than by all other unintentional injuries combined." He may have been referring to a widely-read web page from ASH which noted a New York Times article pointing out that "at least 6,200 children die each year in the United States because of their parents' smoking," based in turn on a report in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. http://ash.org/parentskillkids

Banzhaf notes that the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has very strongly condemned smoking in the presence of children, may be considering advising its members that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke can in some instances trigger a duty to report, and possibly even remind them that failure to report even suspected instances of child abuse can lead to a loss of their licenses, criminal penalties, and possibly even civil liability in a medical malpractice action.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law at GWU,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
FELLOW, World Technology Network, and
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
America’s First Antismoking Organization
2013 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // (703) 527-8418
Internet: http://ash.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AshOrg

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Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first anti-smoking and nonsmokers' rights organization, serves as the legal action arm of the anti-smoking community. It is supported by tax-deductible contributions.