"Isolated incident must not be used to stigmatise all smokers"

Mon 1st June, 2015

A smokers' group says a report that a two-year-old boy has been taken from his parents' care after a health visitor highlighted concerns about the level of cigarette smoke at his home should not be used "to stigmatise all smokers".

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said:

"It's important smokers are considerate to those around them, especially children, so we don't condone smoking throughout the home if children are present.

"Nevertheless it's important to stress that a number of other concerns were raised about the way the child was being cared for so it would be wrong to focus only on the smoking issue.

"The overwhelming majority of parents who smoke know how to behave around children. An isolated incident like this must not be used to stigmatise all smokers, nor should it be seized upon by those who want to ban smoking in the home."

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