HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – Nova Scotia’s newly enacted ban on smoking in vehicles carrying children not only will protect them from harmful secondhand smoke, it also will create a “wave of change” across the country, the Canadian Cancer Society said.

The province became the first in Canada to pass such a ban Thursday, winning applause from the cancer society.

“People are watching Nova Scotia quite closely,” said Meg McCallum of the group’s Nova Scotia division. “They’re seeing Nova Scotia as a leader in tobacco control, and I believe the passing of this legislation is really going to create a wave of change across the country.”

The Nova Scotia law makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle with anyone under age 19 inside.

McCallum said secondhand smoke is far more toxic in the enclosed space of a vehicle, and children are more susceptible to its harmful effects, such as chronic ear infections, asthma and other respiratory conditions.