A law professor has an idea to combat second-hand smoking deaths in children: take them away from their parents who smoke.
John F. Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University Law School,
proposed the idea Monday at the North American Regional Conference of the International Society for Family Law in Washington, D.C.
Citing statistics that said more than 6,000 children die every year because of second-hand smoke, and laws in certain states that weigh parental smoking in child custody cases, Banzhaf argued that taking children out of smoking homes is the solution to the problem.
"We, as attorneys, probably have greater power than other professionals to right wrongs, and to change society for the better, because we can use the tremendous power of law for the public good rather than just to benefit paying clients," said Banzhaf, the founder of the nonprofit Action on Smoking and Health. "And you, as family attorneys, can and should be using the great power of law to right serious wrongs being done to children."
A new report claimed the percentage of American adults who smoke
dropped 2 percentage points from 2014 to 2015 and is now at 15 percent.
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