Amzar File

Aussie State Govt To Ban Smoking In Cars With Kids

MELBOURNE, Dec 22 -- People in the state of Victoria will be banned from smoking in cars with kids and cigarettes will no longer be displayed in shops under tough new laws.

The Victorian state government here hopes that the new laws, announced on Monday, will help cut smoking rates in Victoria by 20 per cent by 2013.

But the ban on smoking in cars with children under the age of 18 will not come into effect until January 2010, while the ban on point-of-sale displays of cigarettes will be mandatory from January 2011, the Herald Sun newspaper reports.

Victoria's Health Minister Daniel Andrews said other measures in the Victorian Tobacco Control Strategy 2008 -2013 included A$22 million in funding for anti-smoking ads, making public school grounds smoke-free by July 1, 2009 and a boost to services to high-risk groups to quit smoking.