State smoke rule eyed Bill targets butts in cars with kids

BANGOR – The city’s ordinance against smoking in cars when a child is inside is headed for the State House.

City Councilor Patricia Blanchette, who is also a Democratic state representative, confirmed Thursday that she has submitted preliminary legislation to make Maine one of the first states to make it illegal to smoke in any vehicle when minors are present.

The statewide measure would mirror Bangor’s ordinance, making it a primary offense for anyone in a car to smoke when there is anyone under 18 in the car.

Violators could be fined $50. Bangor’s ordinance went into effect in January, supported by a 6-3 vote of the City Council, with Blanchette speaking forcefully in favor.

Several recent studies report that smoking in a car or other vehicle exposes everyone inside to dangerous levels of secondhand smoke, even when windows are open. Repeated exposure is linked to a number of chronic disorders in children, including ear infections, asthma and other ailments.

Blanchette, a half-pack-a-day smoker herself, said Thursday that many parents don’t realize the risks of smoking around their children.

“Adults can choose to smoke or not,” she said, “but that child doesn’t have any choice at all.”

Aside from the issue of children’s health, Blanchette said, the public cost of childhood exposure to secondhand smoke is “astronomical.” Emergency room visits, asthma medications and other costs add up quickly, she said, and are often covered by MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program.

“So we all pay for it,” she said.

Ed Miller, chief executive officer of the American Lung Association of Maine, said Thursday that national, state and local laws have done much to protect adults from the effects of secondhand smoke by banning smoking in public buildings, restaurants, bars, workplaces and other areas.

But Miller said these laws have not protected children, since their exposure typically takes place in homes and cars. The high levels of toxic gases that accumulate in a car when someone lights up constitute “involuntary smoking at its worst,” he said.

Miller thinks it’s important that a violation of the ban be considered a primary offense, meaning it would not have to be linked to a speeding violation or other infraction. Secondary laws “are almost forgotten,” he said. And while he doesn’t expect that enforcing the smoking ban will become a high priority for police in Maine, he thinks the existence of the law, and the debate surrounding it, would help raise awareness and serve as “a statement of public expectation.”

In Bangor, not even one citation or warning has been issued to adults found smoking with children in their vehicles since the ban took effect in January.

Deputy Police Chief Peter Arno said that does not mean the city ordinance is not working.

“Anecdotally,” Arno said, “when I’m out driving around the city, I’m just not seeing [the behavior]. And I used to see it a lot.” He takes that as a sign that “the word’s gotten out” and that people are more protective of children.

Arno said he expects police in Maine would not be opposed to the statewide measure, even though enforcing it probably would not be a priority.

Dr. Jonathan Shenkin, a Bangor pediatric dentist and children’s public health advocate who spearheaded the Bangor ban last winter, said the time is right to go statewide. With evidence mounting that exposure to secondhand smoke is “an extreme danger” to children, he said, “this is not a local issue.”

Although Arkansas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico enacted similar smoking bans before Bangor did, Shenkin said, Bangor’s ban is the first in the nation to protect children up to age 18.

In California, Shenkin noted, lawmakers have approved a ban scheduled for enactment by mid-October. That measure initially protected kids age 12 and under, but lawmakers raised the cutoff age to 18 after Bangor’s ban was publicized, he said.

“Bangor’s ordinance is now becoming the national model,” he said.

Like Miller and Arno, Shenkin said the greatest value in passing the law in Maine would be increased public awareness, and not just among adults.

“Kids will learn about it in school,” he said, “and will speak up if someone lights up in the car.”

The proposal has friends in high places, including the Maine chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Maine Coalition on Smoking or Health, the Maine Medical Association, the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Maine Children’s Alliance. Shenkin said endorsements will only increase when the proposal, which is under preliminary review in the Legislature, is completed and published.

Opposition to the proposal is likely to come from the tobacco industry and from groups and individuals philosophically opposed to government intrusion in the lives of private citizens. Efforts on Thursday to contact a Portland attorney who lobbies on behalf of the tobacco industry were not successful. Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, also could not be reached for comment.