The assault on parents continues

Yesterday another advertisement appeared on the television on secondary smoke exposure in the home. The BBC also interviewed the Chief Medical Officer beside a parent whose son's asthma recovery was put down to her success in giving up smoking.

The CMO declares that 80 per cent of smoke is invisible (yes, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour are invisible). She also scoffs at the idea that other pollutants are a significant problem, claiming that the UK meets European standards and that tobacco smoke adds 'dramatically' to pollution levels.

There has never been a satisfactory answer to why governments have waited six years after the smoking ban in public places to remind us how vulnerable children are and to mount sustained campaigns regarding smoking in the home. Rather than an authentic health campaign, this resembles more an attempt to extend the bounds of what kinds of intervention are politically acceptable, starting with 'public' and progressing to domestic.

Dave Atherton has written an open letter to Dame Sally Davies (CMO) and Professor Terence Stephenson, Head of Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. This spells out more of the fallacies behind the current campaign.