Rockland considers ban on smoking with kids in car

POMONA - A proposed Rockland County law would make cars another place where people can’t smoke. The Board of Health is asking the county Legislature to study a proposal to ban smoking in cars carrying children under the age of 18. Dr. Jeffrey Oppenheim, a health board member, said children don’t have a choice when someone lights up in a car with closed windows. Health Commissioner Joan Facelle, a pediatrician, also likes the idea. Louisiana, Arkansas, Puerto Rico and Bangor, Me., have recently enacted laws banning smoking in cars when children are present, according to Matt Barry, director of policy research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based advocacy group. “It’s one of those things that is not necessary to legislate,” countered Jonathan Pinard of Hauppauge, state coordinator for The Smoker’s Club, a grassroots group that advocates smokers’ rights. “Very few people smoke in cars with closed windows with their kids.”