DEVELOPING A HEALTH POLICY FOR SMOKE FREE CARS AND DRIVING

FOREWORD Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is a not for profit organization which aims to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco use by advocating a comprehensive tobacco control strategy at national, state and local levels. ASH is guided by six strategic directions in the 'Call to Action on Tobacco' - a document endorsed by the National Heart Foundation, the Australian Cancer Society and sixty other health groups including the medical colleges, asthma foundations and leading hospitals in order to achieve the organizations overall goals of reducing the number of public places where people are exposed to tobacco smoke and to increase consumer protection for smokers and young people exposed to smoking.

The overall objective of this Health Policy on smoke free automobiles and driving is the minimisation of the harm associated with smoking and driving, and the prerequisites of achieving these objectives will require that public education programs and health promotion campaigns to be implemented together.

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The policy recommendation strategies contained in the document, Developing A Health Policy For Smoke Free Cars And Driving, provides details of the issues being addressed, the need for the policy, the intended policy objectives and its major benefits. It further details the target audience, key stakeholders and its consistency with related policies and projects and whole-of-Government policies. Finally this document addresses suggestions for ways in which the policy might be approached.

BACKGROUND Cigarette smoking is still the most important preventable cause of premature death in Australia. Reducing the prevalence of smoking rightly remains a high priority on Australia's public health agenda. Australia has been active in implementing tobacco control strategies and first formalised its commitment to a comprehensive approach to tobacco control in the 1991 National Health Policy on Tobacco in Australia, building on this The National Tobacco Strategy 1999 to 2002-03 with...