• Question: was it legal for kids to smoke when they thought that it wasint harmful

    Asked by paddy to Susan, Rob, Rebecca, Josh, Chris on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      It is still legal for kids to smoke now! It is illegal for kids to *buy* tobacco products, but most countries do not have a minimum age to smoke, even in public.

      In fact, as late as the early 20th Century (1910 – 1920 ish), many tobacco manufacturers were promoting their cigarettes as a way to help ease an asthma attack or a coughing baby. *THIS IS NOW KNOWN NOT TO BE A GOOD IDEA!!*

      On the other side of the same coin, people have tried to restrict tobacco use for hundreds of years: as early as 1590, the pope was said to have banned people from using tobacco in churches in certain areas – and by this he meant use tobacco in any form at all, including sniffing or chewing it!

    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      The law only prevents children from buying tobacco products, not – in principle – from smoking them. I’m sure that when smoking was first introduced there were no minimum age laws. However, the law on smoking still varies considerably from country to country, and in most developed countries has tightened up over time – for example, it is now illegal to smoke indoors in public places, and from October 2015 it will be illegal to smoke in a car carrying a child. When I was a kid, pubs, restaurants and the upstairs part of buses were practically uninhabitable for non-smokers.

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