When I found out I was pregnant, I started to avoid second-hand smoke as much as I could. Until now, I would get up and move to another table if someone close by lits up a ciggarette. Call me a health freak, I don’t care. I just don’t want my baby inhaling ciggarette smokes. She’ll have plenty of time to deal with second-hand smoke when she grows up. Until then, I’ll gladly be responsible for the air she breathe now.

My husband and I went out for breakfast this morning. We took our baby Clarisse along. It’s a Saturday morning and the food court was thronged with people out for a morning meal. We sat down and 5 minutes later, two men sitting on tables beside ours lit their ciggarettes. We have not ordered our food, so we left for another table and hoped no one around us would smoke.

Frankly, it is frustrating when people around us smoke but we’re kinda used to this. There’s no smoking ban in public eateries except in air-conditioned diners in my country. I have to live with it.

But the situation this morning is especially disturbing. One of the men who lit up and puffed away was craddling an infant, barely 2 months old, in his arms. And when we left 30 mins later, we caught sight of the same fella smoking again in the car, with his entire family in it.

We don’t usually mind other people’s business, but my husband and I turned to each other and shoke our heads in disgust. Which brings me a piece of Canadian news I happen to read about a month ago:

Cancer Society applauds N.S. car smoking ban

Updated Fri. Dec. 14 2007 8:16 AM ET

The Canadian Press

HALIFAX –

Nova Scotia’s ban on smoking in vehicles carrying kids will not only protect children from harmful second-hand smoke, but create a “wave of change” across the country, says the Canadian Cancer Society.

The province became the first in Canada to pass such a ban on Thursday, winning applause from the Canadian Cancer Society.

“People are watching Nova Scotia quite closely,” Meg McCallum of the group’s Nova Scotia division said in an interview.

“They’re seeing Nova Scotia as a leader in tobacco control and I believe the passing of this legislation is really going to create a wave of change across the country.

The Nova Scotia law makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle with anyone under the age of 19 inside.

McCallum said second-hand smoke is far more toxic in the enclosed space of a vehicle, and children are more susceptible to its harmful effects, such as chronic ear infections, asthma and other respiratory conditions.

Excerpt from http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071214/smoking_ban/20071214?hub=Canada

I’ll be the first one to rejoice if a smoking ban as daring as this ever gets passed in my country. But realistically, all I’m hoping for is my government to ban smoking at all dining areas, not just air-conditioned ones.

To all you inconsiderate smokers polluting our air space, stop smoking near children at the very least.