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EDITORIALS: Roberta Ferrence and Mary Jane Ashley Protecting children from passive smoking BMJ 2000; 321: 310-311 [Full text]

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War against the poor

Marie-France Raynault   (12 August 2000)

Passive smoking - Is child abuse?

R Kishore Kumar   (1 September 2000)

public funded studies that promote fascism

Archie Anderson   (23 September 2000)

War against the poor 12 August 2000
Marie-France Raynault, adjuct professor, social and preventive medicine department, University of Montreal Montreal Public Health Direction Send response to journal: Re: War against the poor	Parents smoking represents of course a non negligeable risk for their children and everybody would dream of an efficacious way of protecting them from tobacco smoke at home. Unfortunately, the recipe is not known yet and drastic measures like requiring that physicians report the smoking parents to a governmental agency with the label "abuse and neglect" are clearly conterproductive. Smoking parents need counselling and smoking cessation aids, not reject from their physician. Moreover, poor people will be targeted by such a practice as their prevalence of smoking is higher. They would tend not to consult and this may even be a greater risk for their children. Finally, this could contribute to a widening of the discrepancies of health status between rich and poor children.
Passive smoking - Is child abuse? 1 September 2000
R Kishore Kumar, Consultant Paediatrician and Lecturer in Paediatrics & Child Health North West Regional Hospital, Burnie Send response to journal: Re: Passive smoking - Is child abuse?	Dear Editor I read the articles in this week's BMJ with great interest. As a Paediatrician for the last 12 years I have always been impressed of how "children at risk" of either physical or sexual abuse are taken into foster care. Emotional abuse is difficult to prove but has also been treated appropriately once it is recognised. Passive smoking of children and its harmful effects on them have been proven beyond doubt and more and more research have been coming forth to suggest their long term effects on children including on fetuses, if parents smoke during pregnancy. There is no doubt that awareness of the effects of smoking on children is there among general public. I think it is high time that the definition of child abuse is extended to include passive smoking and that way the enforcement agencies will then have to act to save these "children at risk". If a person constantly ignores the needs of a child to affect the emotional development of a child - he is taken as guilty of emotional abuse, so why not of passive smoking which can affect children so badly!! With regards Yours sincerely Dr. R. Kishore Kumar MBBS,DCH(London),MD(Paed),MRCP(Paed),FRACP Consultant Paediatrician and Lecturer in Paediatrics & Child Health North West Regional Hospital and University of Tasmania, PO Box 258, Burnie TAS 7320, AUSTRALIA. Email: R.Kumar@utas.edu.au
public funded studies that promote fascism 23 September 2000
Archie Anderson, Taxpayer that pays for junk studies Retired Send response to journal: Re: public funded studies that promote fascism	The footnotes to your mega anaylsis contains "experts" that prostitute thier signature with absoutly no regard for the standards of legitimate science. The tellers of tales has sent the credibility of legitimate science back to the stone age, At the same collecting millions in misused taxpayer funds. If and when our civilization ever enters into a biological hot age who in the hell are we to beleive? If you start today by amending your wild ways in maybe a decade there might be a return of some credibility......... Archie Anderson 9931 NW Larch St. Coon Rapids Minnesota 55433