The British fashion designer, John Galliano, has gone on trial in Paris accused of racism.
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MP calls for child car smoke ban
The smoking ban plan was debated in the Commons
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A Labour MP has called for a ban on adults smoking in cars where children are present, saying it would bring “tremendous” health benefits.
Alex Cunningham said children were particularly vulnerable to the effects of passive smoking and could not “remove” themselves from cars where cigarette smoke was circulating.
Parents simply exercising restraint was “not good enough”, he told MPs.
But one Tory MP called the plan “over the top” and “ludicrous”.
Mr Cunningham said the “science was clear” about the dangers of passive smoking and that societal attitudes had changed on the issue in the past decade – reflected by the ban on smoking in public transport, planes and taxis.
Research suggested more than 300,000 children visited doctors every year with health problems associated with passive smoke, he said, while there were 20,000 new cases of asthma and wheezing among children every year.
“This proposal is excessive, intrusive and insulting to British parents who smoke”
Philip Davies Conservative MP
The Labour MP acknowledged many people felt the car was a “private space” but he believed it was children’s space as well and “some people were invading it with dangerous smoke”.
He told MPs: “Adults can make up their mind about the dangers of smoking. It is children we need to protect,” he added.
“The fact that children can be exposed to such an environment in cars is reason enough to bring in a ban on smoking in private vehicles where they are present.
“I can’t see how it would be any real hardship to anyone to stop smoking in private vehicles and the benefits will be tremendous.”
Mr Cunningham said a ban had been introduced in several US states, including California, as well as in parts of Canada and Australia and had growing support in the UK among health campaigners and the public.
But Tory MP Philip Davies – who campaigns against political correctness – said it should be up to parents to decide whether they smoked in cars and there was a “complete lack of evidence” about the beneficial impact of the proposal.
“This proposal is excessive, intrusive and insulting to British parents who smoke,” Mr Davies said.
“The suggestion of banning smoking in private vehicles with a minor present is yet another unwarranted intrusion on individual freedom. The government should have no role at all in regulating the private lives of adults who make decisions as adults.”
MPs voted to allow Mr Cunningham’s ten-minute rule bill to be considered at a future date by 78 to 66.
However, as a private member’s bill, the likelihood of it becoming law is slight.
The Department of Health has previously said parents should keep cars smoke free “voluntarily”.
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EU says Russia will lift veg ban
European vegetables are expected to be back on sale in Russia this week Russia has said it will resume importing vegetables from the European Union (EU) three weeks after it banned them over the E.coli outbreak.
The European Commission says the EU is expected to start exports this week.
Russian authorities signed the agreement on Wednesday during a visit by European Union health commissioner John Dalli.
The visit was intended to ensure Moscow would stick to its pledge to lift the ban.
EU produce could be reappearing in Russia as early as Thursday.
The commission’s health spokesman, Frederic Vincent, said: “We are heading towards an immediate resumption of European vegetables, based on EU certificates that will explain to the Russian authorities that in each EU state there are labs and a surveillance and verification system.”
The E.coli outbreak has so far affected more than 3,000 people, causing the death of 35 and leaving about 800 with a complication that can be fatal.
The source of infection, which initially focused on cucumbers from Spain, has been identified as bean sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany.
The European Commission has offered 210m euros (£186m; $303m) to European farmers who have seen a dramatic loss of income since the outbreak started in early May.
The EU estimates the value of fresh vegetable exports to Russia at 600m euros a year, a quarter of the total exported.
Spain, France, Germany and Poland are the biggest exporting producers.
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