Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to ban smoking in cars when children and pregnant women are present. Iconic image. Photo: iStock
Smoking in cars is prohibited in some European countries. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is now planning to implement such a regulation in Germany.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health, smoking in the car should no longer be allowed in the future if children or pregnant women are traveling with them. This ban, which has been demanded by the federal states for a long time, is included in a draft bill to supplement the Federal Non-Smoking Protection Act. The editorial network Germany (RND) had reported first.
Accordingly, the smoking ban, which already applies in local public transport, for example, is to be implemented in the future “in closed vehicles in the presence of minors or pregnant women”. According to the draft, unborn babies and minors cannot escape the particular burden that passive smoking threatens and are particularly at risk.
Since 2019, several federal states had launched initiatives to enforce this extension and imposed fines of up to 3,000 euros in the event of a violation. Most recently, in March 2022, the Bundesrat decided to introduce a corresponding draft law to the Bundestag.
The Lower Saxony state government justified this with reference to the German Cancer Research Center by saying that the concentration of tobacco in cars could be five times higher “than in an average smoky restaurant”. For children and adolescents, this could cause damage to the lungs, respiratory diseases and middle ear infections.
Further changes possible
According to the draft, the ban should apply to tobacco cigarettes, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and cannabis. According to the RND, the draft bill has not yet been coordinated with all other federal ministry departments. It could therefore still be changed before a decision by the federal government.
Various European countries such as France, Italy and Austria have already introduced bans on smoking in vehicles. Banning smoking in cars is also a topic of debate in some Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Poland. (dpa/afp/dl)