The Daily Populous Sunday June 16th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by wsaz.com and submitted by Forward-Answer-4407

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A bill has passed the West Virginia Senate to ban smoking in a car with children under the age of 16.

According to Senate Bill 378, smoking tobacco products in the presence of children under 16 would be a misdemeanor charge, and if found guilty would be fined $25.

SB 378 recognizes a lit tobacco product as any lighted pipe, cigarette, cigar, or other lighted device or product containing a tobacco-based product that can be smoked.

”It can be deadly,” said state Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha.

As a pulmonologist and a senator in West Virginia, Takubo is passionate about letting the community know about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

“I hope parents realize, wow, do I ever want to expose my kid to any of this?” he said.

That’s why Takubo, among others, introduced SB 378, which has now passed and will be effective June 5.

This will make smoking in the car with children under 16 years old a secondary offense. This means you can’t be pulled over for it, but if you are pulled over and are also smoking in the presence of a child you can be charged.

Takubo says the inspiration for the bill came from a patient of his.

“She had lost about half of her lung function, where her father had been a heavy smoker and she had recalled the horror of being in the car, trapped in that small confined space with all that heavy smoke,” Takubo said. “She had asthma. She recalled that she would have to crawl to the bottom of the car and put her face underneath the seat so she can breathe.”

Takubo says secondhand smoke can cause airway spasms, swelling, and scarring that leaves permanent damage. Especially in children who’s lungs are still developing.

This legislation has been a long time coming

“Many states already had laws on this. There are a few, but we didn’t,” Takubo said. “We tried to press the legislation and it took a while, about eight or nine years, but we finally got it passed.”

While it’s a step forward, Takubo says there is always more work to do.

“I hope no one ever gets a ticket in the state of West Virginia, but that this brings enough awareness so parents understand what they’re doing can be really really detrimental to their children and have lifelong detrimental effects,” he said.

Bringing awareness to a state that is one of the heaviest smoking states per capita.

Takubo says lung cancer kills more than the next four most common cancers combined: colon, breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancers.

Copyright 2024 WSAZ. All rights reserved.

TennisBallTesticles on June 16th, 2024 at 02:07 UTC »

I am unfortunately a smoker. Believe me, I KNOW how much it stinks and regret ever starting.

I refuse to smoke in my car, or my house, or anywhere near kids in general. It's outdated, and completely unnecessary. I can't STAND riding in someones car or going into someone's home that smokes inside. It just REEKS and is absolutely disgusting. And again, I am a smoker. I wear multiple layers of clothes to mask the smoke smell and take off the smoky ones, I wash them immediately, I wash my hands immediately and use breath mints like I was in high school, and very few people know I actually smoke and are surprised to learn I do when they find out because they had no clues.

I am not proud of being a smoker I am actively trying to quit. But I would NEVER saturate my home, my furniture, my clothes, my car, and everything else I own in cigarette smoke. That is one thing that has been rightfully extinct by society and I fully support that.

AprilArtGirlBrock on June 16th, 2024 at 01:27 UTC »

GOOD

Baringstraight on June 16th, 2024 at 01:03 UTC »

Smoking is one of the dumbest things you can do.