Wispy, white tails of smoke drift around the front seat of the car towards the children sitting in the back. The smoke does not amuse the third grader; he smells, sees, and breathes in the smoke every day from his mother’s cigarette. The smoke reaches the newborn infant strapped in her car seat, unable to escape the killer substance hanging in the air. Her lungs slowly adjust to her mother’s killer habits, which then becomes the baby’s killer habit without even lifting the cigarette to her delicate mouth. This scenario occurs in many families and cars around the country, and while many smokers realize the potential, deadly effects on their own bodies, they do not realize the deadly effects on their passengers. Therefore, legislation should ban smoking in cars carrying children under the age of eighteen.
By smoking while carrying children in the car, parents, guardians, or other adults neglect the adolescent passengers from their right to live without secondhand smoke-induced health complications. Sadly, children may disagree with their parents smoking, but they do not have a choice but to live with their guardian’s habit.
Doctors have shared chilling stories about parents exposing their children to tobacco use. Adam Goldstein, director of tobacco intervention programs at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North
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Delphine Mitchell grew up in the 1930 farm home, where school and farm work consumed her everyday life. At the end of the day, she would enjoy time with her family inside, enjoying games, stories, or quality time. Along with the sounds of music or laughter floating around their small farmhouse, smoke from her father’s pipe would fill the air around them. Now, in that time period, her family did not know the risks of secondhand smoke and the future that was growing for Delphine because of her exposure to her father’s