Zamzara wrote:
Dusty wrote:
I predict that in the near future (Less than 12 months) we will see our first "Child abuse" prosceution of smoking parants whose child is admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties.
Resperiritory illness in the children of smokers will in due course be treated in the same way as mysterious bruses and broken bones!
You have been warned!
Well, I think if there's two issues there. If the child has a demonstrable respiratory illness, and there is evidence they are breathing large amounts of smoke regularly, then in my opinion that actually would be negligent care and the parents should at the very least be told to stop smoking around them. Wouldn't it be even more perverse to specifically single out smoking as not being abuse, if it is demonstrably causing harm?
On the other hand if we are talking about an occasional waft of smoke in a park, and there is no clear evidence of harm, then that is very different. I think it's important to keep the two things separate.
Oh, I agree. There is actually a good case for smoking in front of young children to be considererd "Abuse" no less than plying them with Gin (I believe somewhere around 80% of children under 3 admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties are the children of smokers) My point is that, untill now, nobody has been prepared to make an issue out of children exposed to smoke by their parents in their own homes.
With the public ban in force the "Authorities" will now be much more willing to do so.
As for the "Occasional waft of smoke in the park" when I was 8 I burned one of my feet quite badly at an open air swimming pool on a tab end discarded by some selfish git. So it isnt just an issue of nasty smells
Having said all that (as you will appreciate by my "Sig") I am "Discomforted" by the way in which this legislation has been introduced as well as its potential scope. I am sure that there would have been much fairer ways of implimenting a policy whereby *I* as a non-smoker can go about my life un-exposed to smoke without the apparent relentless persecution of those who wish to smoke.
I (along with many others, I am sure) strongly suspect that this is largly about controll freakery dressed up as public safety!
