HEALTH experts in Cumbria have welcomed regulations prohibiting smoking in cars containing children that have been laid before Parliament today.

The British Lung Foundation estimates that 430,000 children are exposed to second hand smoke in their family car every week. 

A poll conducted in March by YouGov for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that in the North West 80 per cent of the public agreed that smoking should be prohibited in cars that are carrying children, and only seven per cent opposed.

Cllr Ian Stewart, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for Public Health, said: “Second hand smoke has been shown to cause a range of health problems in children including chest infections, increased risk of asthma, cot death, glue ear and middle ear infections. In the North West secondhand smoke results in thousands of GP visits and emergency admissions to hospital each year. "

Andrea Crossfield, Chief Executive of Tobacco Free Futures which led the campaign for smoke free cars in the North West, said: “Smoky cars, packed full of toxic tobacco chemicals, are especially deadly to children because they have smaller lungs, faster breathing and less developed immune systems." 

The regulations will be voted on before the General Election and if carried put in place from October 1 2015.