Scotland needs to protect children’s lungs from passive smoke

Whilst Scotland was one of the first nations in the world to propose a smoke-free target by 2034, there are concerns this will be missed without bold new proposals. Heather Gordon, our Communications Officer in Scotland, explains our recent research into public attitudes about smoking.

Recently, we carried out a survey in Scotland to find out what people’s views were around some key areas affecting respiratory health, including air quality and smoking. We were surprised to find that more than 4 in 5 (81.1%) Scots want to see smoking banned outside schools to protect children from passive smoking.

Passive smoking, breathing in tobacco smoke from someone else’s cigarette, is harmful to everyone but even more so for babies and children whose lungs haven’t finished growing. It can cause a host of problems, including slowing lung growth and increasing their risk for developing asthma.

Asthma UK Scotland are calling for the Scottish Government to protect children’s lungs by following Wales’ example and ban smoking near areas where children and young people spend their time, such as school grounds and play areas.

If we are going to reach Scotland’s smoke free target of less than 5% of adults smoking by 2034, we need to do everything we can to stop normalising smoking around children. Passive smoking not only has detrimental health effects on children’s lungs, it also increases the likelihood that they too will become smokers later in life.

It is vital that we protect the next generation’s lungs from the effects of smoke. Currently each year in Scotland there are more than 50,000 hospital admissions attributable to smoking, which are preventable. That is why we are delighted to see such overwhelming support for this action and we will continue to call for the government to commit to enforcing a ban on smoking around schools and playgrounds.

Asthma research is severely underfunded

DID YOU KNOW: Research into respiratory diseases like asthma accounts for just 2% of all the medical research funding in the UK.

This underfunding is exactly why we launched the 2021 Research Appeal...