You Get What You Pay For
It is with great regret I report that Utah SB14 which would have prevented smoking in cars with children under five years of age, was killed in committee on the 18th of February.
Stephen Sandstrom, a Republican from Orem, said this bill was "a slippery slope" that could lead to "telling parents of overweight kids they're not doing enough to prevent obesity." He may have been the same one I heard who said this legislation was "an invasion of privacy."
Ten days later, the House passed HB140 which requires children under the age of 8 to be in booster seats. The reasoning, according to Tim Cosgrove, a Democrat from Murray, is that 34 children children between the ages of 5 and 8 died in crashes between 2002 and 2006.
According to the National Cancer Institue, secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer, heart disease, ear infections, asthma, and SIDS. It can also increase the risk of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors. The NCI also estimates over three thousand lung cancer deaths occur each year due to secondhand smoke.
So I guess that it's ok to expose children who can't make a conscious and informed choice to the risk of contracting cancer while a passenger in a car, but we can't let them be harmed in a car accident because they are unrestrained.
Idiots.
Kudos to Representative Cosgrove for promoting children's health and safety. Shame on those who killed SB 14, and unknown numbers of children in the future.
Stephen Sandstrom, a Republican from Orem, said this bill was "a slippery slope" that could lead to "telling parents of overweight kids they're not doing enough to prevent obesity." He may have been the same one I heard who said this legislation was "an invasion of privacy."
Ten days later, the House passed HB140 which requires children under the age of 8 to be in booster seats. The reasoning, according to Tim Cosgrove, a Democrat from Murray, is that 34 children children between the ages of 5 and 8 died in crashes between 2002 and 2006.
According to the National Cancer Institue, secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer, heart disease, ear infections, asthma, and SIDS. It can also increase the risk of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors. The NCI also estimates over three thousand lung cancer deaths occur each year due to secondhand smoke.
So I guess that it's ok to expose children who can't make a conscious and informed choice to the risk of contracting cancer while a passenger in a car, but we can't let them be harmed in a car accident because they are unrestrained.
Idiots.
Kudos to Representative Cosgrove for promoting children's health and safety. Shame on those who killed SB 14, and unknown numbers of children in the future.
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