Is it right to say that smoking bans protect nonsmokers hearts?”
WASHINGTON — A major report confirms what health officials long have believed: Bans on smoking in restaurants, bars and other gathering spots reduce the risk of heart attacks among nonsmokers. “If you have heart disease, you really need to stay away from secondhand smoke. It’s an immediate threat to your life,” declared Dr. Neal Benowitz of the University of California, San Francisco, who co-wrote Thursday’s report from the prestigious Institute of Medicine. More than 126 million nonsmoking people in the U.S. are regularly exposed to someone else’s tobacco smoke. The surgeon general in 2006 cited “overwhelming scientific evidence” that tens of thousands die each year as a result, from heart disease, lung cancer and a list of other illnesses. Yet smoking bans have remained a hard sell, as lawmakers and business owners debate whether such prohibitions are worth the anger of smoking customers or employees. Thursday’s hard-hitting report promises to influence that debate here and abroad. “
Report: Smoking bans protect nonsmokers’ hearts October 15, 2009 12:16 EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report is suggesting major health benefits to snuffing out public smoking. An Institute of Medicine review of 11 key studies of smoking bans in the U.S. and other countries found drops in the number of heart attacks that ranged from 6 to 47 percent. Both actively smoking and breathing others’ smoke can damage blood vessels and increase blood clots that cause heart attacks. The report says there’s no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke and cited “compelling,” if circumstantial, evidence that even less than an hour’s exposure may be enough to push a person at risk of a heart attack over the edge. The IOM committee chair says, “There is no question that smoking bans have a positive health effect.” Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have what government health officials call comprehensive statewide laws banning smoking. Some other states have less restrictive laws.
