The new rules will come into force on 1 October 2015 and people failing to comply could face a £50 fixed penalty notice. 
 
 Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said: 
 
 Three million children are exposed to secondhand smoke in cars, putting their health at risk. We know that many of them feel embarrassed or frightened to ask adults to stop smoking which is why the regulations are an important step in protecting children from the harms of secondhand smoke. 
 
 Public Health England will launch its campaign to raise awareness of the dangers that secondhand smoke in homes and cars can cause to children’s health. PHE will also be running a campaign later in the year to raise awareness of the new legislation. 
 
 The regulations will become part of the existing smokefree laws and would make it an offence to smoke or to fail to prevent smoking in a private vehicle with someone under the age of 18 present. The regulations do not apply to a driver on their own in a car. 

 Public Health England today (11 February 2015) launches its campaign to highlight the hidden dangers that secondhand smoke in homes and cars can cause to children’s health, coinciding with the passing by Parliament of regulations to end smoking in cars carrying children in England. 
 
 Secondhand smoke is particularly harmful to children as they breathe more rapidly and have less developed airways. Children being exposed to secondhand smoke results in more than 300,000 GP consultations and 9,500 hospital admissions every year. 
 
 The government estimates that 3 million children in England are exposed to secondhand smoke in their family car, which puts them at risk of serious conditions, including respiratory infections and meningitis and triggering asthma. A survey by the British Lung Foundation found that 86% of children who are exposed to smoking in cars would like the smoker to stop, yet only 31% actually feel able to ask them to do so. 
 
 Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer, said: 
 
 The passing of regulations to make smoking in cars carrying under 18s illegal is a significant victory for protecting children’s health from secondhand smoke. Smoking just a single cigarette in a car exposes children to high levels of air pollutants and cancer causing chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde and tar. Children are least equipped to speak out to protest against secondhand smoke, so I welcome this legislation to end smoking in cars when they are present. 
 
 Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director for Health and Wellbeing for Public Health England, added: 
 
 Many parents aren’t aware that over 80% of secondhand smoke is invisible and odourless. Our campaign shows parents what is really there and brings to life that no matter how careful you are, children still breathe in harmful poisons. A completely smokefree home and car is a strong and positive step towards protecting the health of our children. 
 
 The government and public health professionals see this vote as a significant milestone in protecting children from the health risks of secondhand smoke. The law will come into force on 1 October 2015, and people failing to comply could face a £50 fixed penalty notice. 
 
 Dr Penny Woods, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: 
 
 After years of campaigning on this issue, we could not be more delighted by the government’s commitment to help stop smoking in cars with children present. With so many children being exposed to secondhand smoke in the family car every week in the UK, we are certain that this measure will prove to be one of the most significant moments for public health since the smokefree legislation of 2007. 
 
 The Smokefree Homes and Cars campaign features advertising on TV, radio and online from 9 February 2015. It highlights that many parents are often unaware of the damage smoking in the home and car causes to children’s health, and encourages them to quit. 
 
 Smokers can search ‘smokefree’ or visit NHS Smokefree for a range of free support and quitting advice, including the Smokefree app and Quit Kit. 
 
 Ends 
 
 Notes to editors 
 
 All campaign imagery, adverts and wider key messages around the legislation can be downloaded from Dropbox. Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. PHE is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. Website: www.gov.uk/phe. Twitter: @PHE_uk, Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland. While smoking rates have declined over past decades, smoking is still the biggest cause of preventable illness and premature death in the country, accounting for almost 80,000 deaths in England a year. One in every 2 long-term smokers will die prematurely from a smoking related disease unless they quit. 

 Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Smoking will be banned if under-18s are in the car 
 
 Drivers in England will be banned from smoking in their cars if they are carrying children as passengers. 
 
 The move, which will become law on 1 October, follows a similar ban in Wales and aims to protect young people under 18 from second-hand smoke. Scotland is also considering introducing a ban. 
 
 Anyone found flouting the law in England could be fined £50. 
 
 The British Lung Foundation welcomed the ban as a victory, but smokers' group Forest said it was unenforceable. 
 
 It will not apply to anyone driving alone or driving in a convertible car with the top down. 
 
 The regulations were passed in the Commons after 342 MPs voted in favour of legislation while just 74 voted against. 
 
 More than 430,000 children are exposed to second-hand smoke in cars each week, according to the British Lung Foundation, 
 
 Passive smoke in children can increase the risk of asthma, meningitis and cot death, say public health experts. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Professor Dame Sally Davies: "We need to protect our children" 
 
 While many support a ban, some say it is an unnecessary intrusion. 
 
 'Important step' 
 
 Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison, said: "Three million children are exposed to second hand smoke in cars, putting their health at risk. 
 
 "We know that many of them feel embarrassed or frightened to ask adults to stop smoking which is why the regulations are an important step in protecting children from the harms of secondhand smoke." 
 
 Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "This is a tremendous victory. 
 
 "We urge the Government to show the same commitment to introduce standardised packaging for all tobacco products, in order to protect the 200,000 children taking up smoking every year in this country. 
 
 "We are certain that these measures together will prove to be two of the most significant milestones for public health since the smoke-free legislation of 2007." 
 
 But Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said the legislation was excessive. 
 
 "The overwhelming majority of smokers know it's inconsiderate to smoke in a car with children and they don't do it. They don't need the state micro-managing their lives," he said. 
 
 "The police won't be able to enforce the law on their own so the government will need a small army of snoopers to report people." 
 
 Passive smoking 

 EPA's coordinated approach on asthma promotes scientific understanding of environmental asthma triggers and ways to manage asthma in community settings through research, education and outreach. With federal, state and local partners, we are building the nation's capacity to control asthma and manage exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants linked to asthma. 
 
 In particular, there are many pollutants found indoors that can trigger asthma attacks. Learn more about indoor air quality. 

 What is Secondhand Smoke? 
 
 How does Secondhand Smoke Affect Asthma? 
 
 Actions You Can Take 
 
 Children and Secondhand Smoke 
 
 Protect Your Child from Secondhand Smoke 
 
 When You Smoke Your Baby Smokes 
 
 Children's Environmental Intervention Training (CEIT) 
 
 What is Secondhand Smoke? 
 
 Secondhand smoke, also known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), consists of exhaled smoke from smokers and side stream smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 substances, including over 70 compounds that are known to cause cancer. 
 
 How Does Secondhand Smoke Affect Asthma? 
 
 Secondhand smoke can trigger asthma episodes and increase the severity of attacks. Secondhand smoke is also a risk factor for new cases of asthma in preschool aged children who have not already exhibited asthma symptoms. Scientists believe that secondhand smoke irritates the chronically inflamed bronchial passages of people with asthma. Secondhand smoke is linked to other health problems, including lung cancer, ear infections and other chronic respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis and pneumonia. 
 
 Many of the health effects of secondhand smoke, including asthma, are most clearly seen in children because children are most vulnerable to its effects. Most likely, children's developing bodies make them more susceptible to secondhand smoke's effects and, due to their small size, they breathe more rapidly than adults thereby taking in more secondhand smoke. The developing lungs of young children are severely affected by exposure to secondhand smoke for several reasons including that children are still developing physically, have higher breathing rates than adults, and have little control over their indoor environments. Children receiving high doses of secondhand smoke, such as those who have parents who smoke, run the greatest risk of suffering from the damaging health effects. 
 
 Actions You Can Take 
 
 Choose not to smoke in your home or car and don't allow others to do so. 
 
 Choose not to smoke in the presence of people with asthma. 
 
 Choose not to smoke in the presence of children, who are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. 
 
 Do not allow baby-sitters, caregivers or others in your home to smoke in your house or near your children. 
 
 Talk to your children's teachers and day care providers about keeping the places your children spend time smoke-free. 
 
 Children are especially sensitive to the dangers of secondhand smoke! 
 
 Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop asthma. 
 
 Children who have asthma and who breathe secondhand smoke have more asthma attacks. 
 
 Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from pneumonia, bronchitis, and other lung diseases. 
 
 Secondhand smoke causes irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. 
 
 Children who breathe secondhand smoke have more ear infections. 
 
 There are an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 cases every year of infections in infants and children under 18 months of age who breathe secondhand smoke. 
 
 How you can protect your child from secondhand smoke: 
 
 NEVER SMOKE AROUND YOUR CHILD. Don't smoke in your home. Insist that others don't smoke in your home either. Smoking in another area of the home, even if well ventilated, exposes others to secondhand smoke. 
 
 Ask smokers to go outside if they must smoke. In restaurants and public places stay only in non-smoking areas. 
 
 Don't smoke with your child in the car. 
 
 Make sure your child's daycare, school, and after-school programs are smoke-free. 
 
 Click HERE to learn more about Asthma and Smoking 
 
 When You Smoke Your Baby Smokes 
 
 When You Smoke Your Baby Smokes will explain to new parents the importance of giving their new baby a smoke free environment. Babies new lungs can be harmed by both second hand smoke that occurs when someone is smoking in the home and by third hand smoke that is on the clothes, furniture, cars and other places a person has smoked. 
 
 This 4 minute discussion of the harm from smoke and ways parents can protect their baby should be viewed by every parent in a smoker's household. These lessons are particularly important to the health of a baby born prematurely 
 
 This lesson has been found to help mothers and fathers resist the urge to re-start smoking in the weeks and months following the birth of a baby. 
 
 When You Smoke Your Baby Smokes was written and developed for Dr. Allen Merritt, Neonatologist, at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital in Loma Linda, CA. 
 
 Children’s Environmental Intervention Training (CEIT): Using ONE Step and Asthma Management to Protect Children 
 
 The American Lung Association in Colorado’s (ALAC) FREE CEIT training will provide training and resources on asthma and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) to early childhood educators to equip them to educate parents, through health-focused messaging, about removing asthma triggers and environmental tobacco smoke from their homes. This training educates Early Childhood Educators (ECE) about the basics of asthma management, including asthma triggers, and teaches them how to create an asthma program at their child care center, including reducing asthma triggers, while also teaching them about the harms of environmental tobacco smoke and how to speak to parents in a non-threatening, health-focused way about protecting their children from ETS. Free resources include a toolkit to reference and use the information provided in the training. The toolkit and other free resources can be found on www.cohealthresources.com. To see the general training flyer, click HERE. 
 
 
 
 Attendees will: 
 
 Receive 1.5 Continuing Education Credits! 
 
 Get FREE resources 
 
 
 
 We can provide FREE Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner depending on training time 
 
 
 
 Gain the knowledge and confidence to talk with parents about the harmful effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke 
 
 Learn how to strengthen tobacco policies in their center/home or school 
 
 Learn how to encourage “no smoking” policies in air shared by children at any time in any place 
 
 Be given tips on how to discuss how to better care for children with asthma while also sharing important messages with parents about environmental triggers associated with their child’s asthma. 
 
 If you are a childcare provider or an early childhood educator and would like to learn more about a free training in your area around protecting children from environmental tobacco smoke and asthma please contact us. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Watch the Children's Environmental Intervention Training's RECORDED webinar to receive 1.5 continuing education credits. **MUST BE A RESIDENT OF COLORADO. 
 
 
 
 To apply for CME credit for this webinar, you must adhere to the following process: 
 
 Watch the webinar HERE 
 
 Note - you must complete the survey in its entirety for credit. Click HERE to take the post-training evaluation through SurveyMonkey.- you must complete the survey in its entirety for credit. 
 
 E-mail the American Lung Association in Colorado to notify of completion. 
 
 Once notified, American Lung Association in Co staff will review your responses to determine pass or fail. 
 
 Upon passing, American Lung Association in Co staff will e-mail you your 1.5 CEC's and mail the training toolkit and other materials to the address you supply in the SurveyMonkey. 
 
 
 
 Thank you! 
 
 Back to Top 

 Bacterial meningitis can be fatal 
 
 "Meningitis link to smoking in pregnancy: Cigarettes can treble child's chance of developing the disease," the Daily Mail reports. 
 
 The headlines follow the publication of a review that has looked at whether children exposed to secondhand smoke (passive smoking) could be at increased risk of meningococcal meningitis. Meningococcal meningitis (caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis) is the most common type of bacterial meningitis in the UK. If it progresses to a blood infection (septicaemia), the condition can be fatal. 
 
 The 18 studies included in the review found that children and adolescents exposed to any secondhand smoke in the home were at more than double the risk of meningococcal meningitis or septicaemia. 
 
 However, it is difficult to conclude that secondhand smoke is the direct cause of the increased risk. This is because the studies did not all take into account other factors that could be influencing the association. The individual studies that were pooled in the review also differed quite considerably in their methods, the study populations included, the smoking exposures and the meningitis outcomes that they measured. Also, despite the media’s focus on smoking in pregnancy, only one study actually examined this and this study alone doesn’t provide reliable evidence of the risk. 
 
 Despite its limitations, this valuable review does suggest another possible harm from passive smoking, in addition to those already established. 
 
 Where did the story come from? 
 
 The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Nottingham and was funded by Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and the UK Clinical Research Collaboration. 
 
 
 
 It was published in the open-access medical journal BMC Public Health. The current publication is provisional, meaning that although the article has been accepted, there may be some revisions in the final publication. 
 
 The Mail’s focus on smoking during pregnancy is unjustified. This review included 18 studies and only one looked at the effect of smoking in pregnancy. Much more study is needed to examine this link before more reliable conclusions can be drawn. 
 
 What kind of research was this? 
 
 The researchers claim that growing evidence suggests children exposed to secondhand smoke – for example at home – can be at increased risk of meningococcal meningitis. The current study is a systematic review and meta-analysis. It explores the evidence by combining the results of observational studies that have looked at the association between a child’s secondhand smoke exposure and meningitis risk. The researchers have looked, in particular, at the size of the risk associated with smoking: 
 
 by any household member 
 
 by individual family members 
 
 by maternal smoking before and after birth 
 
 Prospective cohort studies are the best way of looking at whether a particular exposure, such as secondhand smoking, is associated with an increased risk of a disease outcome, such as meningitis. Case-control studies can be used for rare diseases, such as meningitis, and they usually look back at past exposures. However, this can reduce the reliability of the assessments because people have to remember what happened in the past. The other main limitation to observational studies such as cohort and case-control studies, is that factors other than that being investigated may differ between the groups being compared (these are called confounding factors). 
 
 A systematic review is the best way of looking at all existing research on a question of interest. However, they have inherent limitations because the design, quality and methods of the individual studies often vary – for example, the methods used to assess smoking exposure and meningitis outcomes. The included studies may also have differed in whether they adjusted for confounders, such as socio-economic status, diet and activity. 
 
 What did the research involve? 
 
 The researchers searched medical literature databases to identify any cohort, case-control or cross-sectional studies published up to June 2012 that had looked at the association between secondhand smoke exposure and risk of meningococcal meningitis in under 18s. 
 
 The researchers searched for studies looking at any type of secondhand smoke exposure, including parental or household exposure, exposure from a carer or other family members. They included studies in which secondhand smoke was either self-reported or measured biologically (such as looking at nicotine by-products in saliva samples). The researchers categorised secondhand smoke exposure as occurring: 
 
 before birth (while the baby was in the womb) 
 
 after birth (postnatal) 
 
 during infancy (no clear distinction is given in the paper of when they considered the ‘postnatal’ period to have ended and the ‘infancy’ period to have started) 
 
 during childhood 
 
 The researchers did not include studies looking at active smoking by the child. 
 
 The outcomes they looked at were meningococcal meningitis (or septicaemia) diagnosed by a doctor or by laboratory confirmation (such as meningococcal bacteria in the blood). 
 
 Different researchers assessed the quality of the included studies and carried out statistical tests looking at how different the results of the individual studies were (heterogeneity). 
 
 What were the basic results? 
 
 The researchers identified 18 eligible studies. These included 15 case-control studies (looking at groups of children with and without meningococcal meningitis and whether they had been exposed to secondhand smoke) and two cohort studies (which followed children exposed and not exposed to secondhand smoke and looked at whether they went on to develop meningococcal meningitis). 
 
 The case-control studies included between 47 and 505 children with meningococcal meningitis and between 51 and 9,240 controls. The cohort studies included 288 and 283,291 people, with the former including 144 children with meningococcal meningitis and the latter 55 children with meningococcal meningitis. 
 
 All of the included studies assessed exposure to secondhand smoke using questionnaires. Ten of the studies looked at both laboratory diagnoses of meningococcal meningitis (or septicaemia) and clinically suspected but unconfirmed cases of infection. Eight studies included only those with laboratory diagnosis. Studies were performed internationally and included study populations from countries in Europe, Australasia, America and Africa. 
 
 A pooled analysis of 17 studies demonstrated that children with any secondhand smoke exposure in the home had at least double the odds of meningococcal meningitis or septicaemia (odds ratio 2.18, 95% confidence interval 1.63 to 2.92). There was significant heterogeneity between the studies, demonstrating that the results of individual studies were quite different. When splitting the studies according to quality, they found that poorer quality studies found stronger risk associations (higher risks of infection associated with secondhand smoke) than the better quality studies. 
 
 When looking at the effect of secondhand smoke according to the age of the child they found that the effect tended to be greater in younger children. Exposure to secondhand smoke was associated with about 2.5 times the odds of meningitis or septicaemia in the five studies where the children were specifically described to be under 5 years (odds ratio 2.48, 95% confidence interval 1.51 to 4.09). This compared with a doubling of the odds in the 12 studies where the children were aged less than 18 years (odds ratio 2.02, 95% confidence interval 1.44 to 2.85). 
 
 Only one study looked at the specific effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy. This single study found an almost tripled risk of childhood meningococcal disease in children whose mother smoked during pregnancy (odds ratio 2.93, 95% confidence interval 1.52 to 5.66). Seven studies (with significant heterogeneity) had specifically looked at the effect of smoking by the mother after birth (postnatal exposure) and found that the risk was more than doubled (odds ratio 2.26, 95% confidence interval 1.54 to 3.31). 
 
 The distribution of the results of the published studies suggested that there may have been other studies that did not find a link between secondhand smoke and meningococcal disease that have not been published. The researchers used a method to estimate what the results of these studies might be and pooled them with the published studies. This gave a smaller increase in risk associated with secondhand smoke, but it was still statistically significant (odds ratio 1.59, 95% confidence interval 1.17 to 2.15). 
 
 Using their overall results the researchers estimated that an extra 630 cases of childhood meningococcal disease a year arise due to secondhand smoke exposure in UK homes. If they used the results that took into account potentially missing studies this reduced the number to an extra 350 cases of childhood meningococcal disease a year arising due to secondhand smoke exposure in UK homes. 
 
 How did the researchers interpret the results? 
 
 The researchers report that secondhand smoke exposure significantly increases the risk of childhood meningococcal disease. In their conclusions they take a more cautious approach, saying that “there seems to be some evidence to support secondhand smoke as a causative factor of meningococcal disease”. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 This valuable review provides further evidence of the potential harmful effects of smoking. This time research suggests that children exposed to secondhand smoke may be at increased risk of developing meningococcal meningitis. The review has strengths in that it has systematically looked at and included all available observational studies that have examined the link, and that it focused specifically on one type of meningitis. 
 
 However, there are important limitations that make it difficult to conclude that passive smoking is the direct cause of the association: 
 
 The individual studies did not all take into account potential confounding factors that could be involved in the association between smoke exposure and meningitis risk. Relevant confounders may include factors such as socio-economic status, diet and activity levels of the parents and their children. 
 
 The individual studies have also differed in their study populations, the smoking exposures that they measured and the outcomes they included. The pooled results had a high degree of statistical heterogeneity, demonstrating that the individual studies had results that were quite different from each other. This makes it difficult to know for sure what the true size of the association is. 
 
 While the media has focused on risk from smoking during pregnancy, only one of the 18 studies examined this association. More prospective studies that followed up over time the children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy would be needed to see if there were a clear link. 
 
 Despite the limitations this valuable review provides evidence of another possible harm from passive smoking, in addition to those already well established. 
 
 Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter.
– Brits will be breaking the law if they light up while driving—if there's a child riding as a passenger. England's Department of Health announced today that the law, which will go into effect Oct. 1, is similar to a ban in Wales, the BBC reports. Scotland is also considering one. Drivers could pay a fine of around $75 if they're found breaking the law; the ban doesn't apply if a driver is alone or driving a convertible with the top down. Britain's public health minister estimates that 3 million kids are exposed to secondhand smoke in cars. "We know that many of them feel embarrassed or frightened to ask adults to stop smoking, which is why the regulations are an important step in protecting children." The new law was announced the same day that Public Health England launched its campaign to limit kids' exposure to secondhand smoke. Such exposure could raise their risk of meningitis, respiratory infections, and asthma. "Smoking just a single cigarette in a car exposes children to high levels of air pollutants and cancer-causing chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde, and tar," England's chief medical officer says. The BBC notes that some are calling the law an "intrusion," but the CEO of the British Lung Foundation calls it a "tremendous victory." (Some in Washington state want to raise its smoking age to 21.)