Laws banning smoking in public places around the world have improved the health of children and babies, major new research has revealed. The international analysis of 11 studies, published in The Lancet, discovered that premature births had fallen by 10 per cent within a year of smoking bans being introduced, while the number of hospital admissions relating to childhood asthma had also significantly dropped. In addition, smoking bans were also associated with a five per cent decrease in low birth weight babies.

Lead researcher Jasper Been said that the study provided “clear evidence that smoking bans have considerable public health benefits for perinatal and child health”. The UK Government is now considering introducing further legislation to ban smoking in cars with child passengers.