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That's the question being ask of the Attorney General by Law Enforcement officials in Nebraska following the US Surgeon Generals report linking second-hand smoke to many childhood diseases. The police were asking the Atorney General whether or not they should be enforcing the law by arresting persons who smoke while children are present in the car. Simply rolling down the window would not excuse them.
Seems 43% of children are subjected to second-hand smoke where they live and of those 85% have level of cotinine in their blood. Cotinine is a by-product of nicotine breakdown by the body demonstrating that nicotine is being inhaled by the children.
According to the article the Surgeon Generals study concludes that "there is no safe level of second-hand smoke" and that there already exists scientific evidence that it causes heart-disease, lung cancer, and a host of other illnessnes.
Among the life-threatening illnesses which afflict children are listed asthma and SIDS. The article states that "second-hand smoke increases the severity and frequency of asthma in children. It can also cause pneumonia or bronchitis as well as fluid buildup in the middle ear, the most common cause of childhood hearing loss."
If you'ld like to read more this information was taken from an article written 7/7/2006 in the North Platte Telegraph titled "Is It Child Abuse," by JOHN LINDENBERGER.
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