MONDAY, Sept. 21, 2009 (Health.com) — The ban on smoking in public places, such as bars and restaurants, has been one of the greatest public health debates of the early 21st century. Now, two large studies suggest that communities that pass laws to curb secondhand smoke get a big payoff—a drop in heart attacks.
Overall, American, Canadian, and European cities that have implemented smoking bans had an average of 17% fewer heart attacks in the first year, compared with communities who had not taken such measures. Then, each year after implementing smoking bans (at least for the first three years, the longest period studied), smoke-free communities have an average 26% decline in heart attacks, compared with those areas that still allow smokers to light up in public places.
The findings, published independently by two research teams using similar data, are in the medical journals Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The new studies should grab the attention of cities as well as states—such as Tennessee and Virginia—that still permit smoking in (at least certain sections of) bars, casinos, restaurants, and other public places. Overall, 32 states and many cities in the United States have passed some type of law prohibiting smoking in public spots. (You can check out the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation to find out if your local community has a ban.) In addition, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, and Scotland have passed such bans.
In 2005, there were 1.26 million heart attacks in the U.S., and about 445,687 of those people died, according to the American Heart Association. The new research suggests that a nationwide ban on smoking in public and workplaces could prevent 100,000 to 225,000 heart attacks each year in the U.S., says one study author, David Meyers, MD, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
Next page: Why secondhand smoke is dangerous
Comments (13)
This is fantastic news and should help the naysayers understand just how powerful these laws can be in affecting the health of everyone.
This proves that outdoor smoking is a lot safer than smoking indoors.
Health:
Virginia banned smoking in public areas/bars. It was a huge deal that a tobacco state banned smoking. The law just has not gone into effect yet. Step up the old research.
“The new studies should grab the attention of cities as well as states — such as Tennessee and Virginia — that still permit smoking in (at least certain sections of) bars, casinos, restaurants, and other public places.”
Interesting that such health news comes from a law. I would like to think that people are starting to pay attention to these many health resources and making a change for themselves because they want to.
you know what makes me laugh i travel for a living and in each town with a smoke ban there is one thing i notice (and have been told by the owners of the bars) is that buisness is down alot in towns that have a ban so is it the smoke or is it the lack of ppl going to the bar doing it? i live in new jersey and they talk of that same reduction of about 17% and most bar owners talk about thier loss of 35 to 45% of customers? hmmm might it be that the 35 to 45% drop in drinking in bars might have something to do with that? i wonder what would happen if they banned drinking would it drop further?
how bout we grow up and let the bars decide how to run thier bars and if you dont like smoke go to a owner decided non smoking bar? forcing them to take out smoking is like forcing the toxic waste dump to remove the toxic waste because it is bad for thier employes.
and btw new studies show that being overweight is wrose for your health than smoking so why is mcdonalds still open?????????? (actually obesity kills more than cancer)
Funny that a person named “morg” is the only one here “dead” set against this great news
Here in Canada (yep – the evil “socialist” Canada that loves its universal healthcare – THAT Canada) the same thing here happened when a popular coffee shop chain, Tim Hortons, wet smoke free. Their regular [smoking] client dropped off like flies, and business suffered. Then one store manager in my town got a brilliant idea… He put a banner up in front of their store that said “Now Smoke FREE” which attracted all the non-smokers, and their business tripled (so much so they built a new bigger Tim Horton across the street to accommodate to new clientèle)
to “morg”-I travel as well and spend a great deal of time in the northern NJ/NYC area. I haven’t noticed any bar in Hoboken NJ, Jersey City NJ or NYC(incl Brooklyn) that appears to be hurting for business at all….people still drink and go out to bars to p/u “dates”. They smoke outside and go back in to continue the fun.
The cigarette smoking ban has not really appeared to do a lot of fiscal damage. of course I’ll admit I don’t go to many neighborhood dive bars or “drunk tanks”, the kinds of places where Prozac should be in vending machines….
I can’t tell you how happy the ban on smoking in restaurants has made me personally. And that preventing people from smoking for a short period of time has resulted in better health. Fantastic!
To me, government dictation of personal lifestyle is a dangerous precedent no matter how effective. Almost anything can be dictated in the name of better health, e.g., diet, exercise, sleep, medical care and so on. All the nonsmokers seem to have no concern that someday it may be their ox being gored, and their freedom of choice being taken away. Before the city and statewide ban in NM, most all bars and restaurants had separate sections for smokers and nonsmokers. At least they and their patrons could choose to be smoking or nonsmoking. Now there is no choice.
I’m no apologist for the tobacco industry, nor do I dispute that non-smokers have rights. That said…
Smokers are avoiding cities with bans on smoking in public places, particularly those that go beyond the state restrictions and ban smoking anywhere outside of the resident’s own home, including the streets.
Smokers are not moving in or taking up residence, or patronizing businesses in towns such as these. In otherwords, they go somewhere else to have their heart attack. The remaining residents are not smokers. This decrease in heart attacks has nothing to do with second-hand smoke, and EVERYTHING to do with the population of these towns becoming increasingly made up of nonsmokers. Good for them, but let’s not get silly thinking that there’s a solution to the problem here. The problem has just been shifted elsewhere, and still needs a solution.
As I pointed out in my earlier post, those who tend to want to play “social scientest” and change everyone’s behavior (most likely because they love to meddle, not through altruistic motives), just keep getting it all wrong.
For another example of how th Lifestyle Police screwed it up, take a loke at the discoveries made about trying to counter obesity by regulating fast food restaurants in the article “Los Angeles Fast Food Restaurant Ban Unlikely to Cut Obesity”. Cut and paste the following link;
http://my.earthlink.net/track?add=1&id=1036506&url=http://www.topix.net/r/0mnQJJPRdmWwzxWAm6ZcTv55AhbvLP0G=2BlL8=2BKVrO=2BD0×8MldVg15wfRXdiD9snlp85Jg0jmt=2FDTI7vDfrOgMck8y8LL6p6wBF=2BHp9q0dET=2BTgGBJPX6TFV29DExee4Xvj1eLuaOlfDSaHIK2OL17dw=3D=3D
I moved from a state where smoking in restauarants was commonplace to a state where smoking is banned in all public facilities.
At first, I thought it was discriminatory to ban smoking since I grew up with family members that smoked. I grew up with a tolerance of cigarette smoke until I moved away from home. I never liked the smell, but it never really bothered me much in small doses.
However, I am now a big proponent of banning smoking in all public facilities. It is really refreshing to not have a pool hall or restaurant smell like a pack of Marlboros. I really noticed the difference the first time I went home on vacation and visited a restauarant where smoking was not banned.