Printer-friendly version Reader Comments

There are good reasons to worry about secondhand smoke, but this is a step too far.

October 24, 2007

— While the dangers of inhaling secondhand smoke are well- recognized, every social sanction comes with a cost. In this case, society protects some people by limiting someone else's freedom of action.

And a proposed bill to bar people from smoking in their own automobiles if they are carrying children imposes too much control to be justified.

Maine and many other states have placed a number of limits on where and when people may smoke. Restaurants, bars, hospitals, workplaces and all public buildings are now no- smoking areas. In addition, landlords have banned smoking in about 40 percent of the state's rental units.

Those rules not only protect others from the dangers of secondhand smoke, but from the annoyance it produces while people are trying to enjoy a meal or other social occasion.

Now, however, Rep. Patricia Blanchette, D-Bangor, has proposed a statewide ban on smoking in cars containing children -- something Bangor has already banned with a local ordinance. But the Maine Civil Liberties Union rightly says such a ban crosses the line between public and private spaces.

That's not to say it's a good idea to expose children to secondhand smoke. Research has shown that it makes kids more vulnerable to respiratory ailments and ear infections.

Still, Bangor police say they almost never enforce the ban, and the MCLU has genuine concerns about stopping and fining people for a legal activity. Is the next step to ban smoking in private homes when children are present?

You'd think those who believe smoking was that harmful would instead be trying to ban it completely.

But so long as cigarettes are legal, the government has no business saying how they should be used in thehomes we own and in our own private vehicles.