Ontario might ban smoking in cars carrying kids

Rob Peters, thanks for this.

At the risk of seeming callous, I'm against this law. I grew up with a single mother who smoked cigarettes, and while I don't stand by her decision to smoke, in a car or otherwise, I don't like this law. There's something about it that strikes me as misdirected, though I can't quite put my finger on it...its probably an aversion to that level of interference into people's lives (if cars are now, then will houses be next)?

My mother always opened our windows and hers, and would smoke outside at pit stops. If I would have asked her to put it out, she would have. 

I dunno...feel free to yell at me, but I'm siding with the individual's freedom in this case. And yes, as Jordan says--how to police?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) 

One third of people who breath in high levels
of secondhand smoke have damage to their lungs similar to that seen in
smokers, doctors reported on Monday.

They used a special kind of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scan
to look at the lungs of non-smokers who had high exposure to other
people's cigarette smoke and found evidence of the kind of damage that
causes emphysema.

This report has more info and the side by side comparison images.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071126104424.htm 

Still questioning? Here are some more facts according to the EPA

Secondhand tobacco
smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds. More than 60 of these
are known or suspected to cause cancer.

Secondhand smoke can
be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is
responsible for:

• An estimated
  35,000 to 40,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are not
  current smokers

• About 3,000 lung
  cancer deaths in nonsmoking adults

• Other respiratory
  problems in nonsmokers, including coughing, phlegm, chest
  discomfort, and reduced lung function

• 150,000 to
  300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (such as pneumonia and
  bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which
  result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations

• Increases in the
  number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1
  million asthmatic children
  
  

You want more proof? Ok Here are the CDC Facts:

Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke Exposure

• Secondhand smoke exposure causes heart disease and lung cancer in
  nonsmoking adults.2
• Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at
  home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30% and
  their lung cancer risk by 20–30%.2
• Breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the
  cardiovascular system that can increase the risk of heart attack.
  People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk.2
• Secondhand smoke exposure causes respiratory symptoms in children and slows their lung growth.2
• Secondhand smoke causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems,
  and more frequent and severe asthma attacks in children.2
• There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief
  exposure can be dangerous.2

More facts from the CDC

This is is about peoples rights. But all being equal, who's rights are more important? The smokers right or the person breathing the smoke when they don't want to.

If you look at it at the (real) extreme level, if somone is smoking and another person can get cancer from it, is that not child/spouse abuse and possibly even murder?