England’s government is moving to ban vaping and heated tobacco in cars carrying anyone under 18 — extending a 2015 ban on smoking in cars with children — citing emerging evidence of harms from secondhand vapour and emissions, including increased risks of lung cancer and heart disease.

The Move

• The Department of Health and Social Care included the measure in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, alongside proposed bans on smoking, vaping and heated tobacco in playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals.

• Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “No child in a playground or hospital patient should suffer because someone else chooses to smoke.”

• The proposals are subject to a public consultation running 12 weeks until 8 May.

Why it Matters for Care

• Clinicians may see this folded into anticipatory guidance: “no smoking or vaping in cars” becomes a clearer, enforceable message for families with children.

• Secondhand exposure is a pediatric and cardiopulmonary issue: Prof. Chris Whitty cited links to asthma, poor birth outcomes, several cancers, stroke and heart disease.

• Hospital-adjacent restrictions (outside hospitals) may affect patient and visitor behavior — and could change how staff counsel nicotine use on discharge.

Between the Lines

• The government is threading a needle: protect children in enclosed spaces while not undermining harm-reduction efforts for adults switching from cigarettes to vapes.

• ASH supports exploring the car ban, while stressing that secondhand vapour is “significantly less harmful” than secondhand smoke — but still a reasonable target in small, enclosed spaces.

• Notably, the bill avoids some politically fraught terrain (no ban on smoking outside pubs) and carves out exemptions (care homes, hospices, mental health hospitals, residential schools).

What to Watch

• Consultation outcome and any revisions to the bill after 8 May.

• How exemptions are justified and operationalized — especially for mental health inpatient settings and residential institutions.

• Enforcement details: penalties, policing approach, and whether public messaging aligns vaping with smoking in clinical counseling.

Source: The Guardian