Smoking ban in public places reduces smoke exposure and heart attacks

A new study indicates that policies that ban or restrict smoking in public reduce exposure to secondhand smoke and reduces heart attacks. Restriction of smoking area helps non smokers to avoid being exposed to tobacco smoke and the health consequences



Illinois banned smoking in the workplace two years ago, making it one of the states where people can go out into public without having to breathe second hand tobacco smokes, which has health risks.


A review published in the April, 2010 issue of The Cochrane Library states that countries and states that have polices restricting public smoking have less exposure to secondhand smoke. These areas also have a reduction in the number of people who have heart attacks and an improvement in other health indicators.


"Taken together, the benefits for workers and the reduction of hospital-related morbidity are impressive," says Professor Cecily Kelleher, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science at University College Dublin, Ireland.


Countries around the world are introducing polices that restrict where people can some. Policies were implemented largely because of findings that tobacco smoke is the second major cause of death in the world. Smoking is currently responsible for the death of about one in ten adults, according the the World Health Organization (WHO).


The state of Illinois banned smoking in the workplace, including restaurants and bars, effective in 2008, to protect people from the health hazards of second hand smoke.


Smoking is a complex personal and social activity, so researchers stated that there is an ongoing need to monitor the effect of non-smoking legislation to see if it is benefiting people. The recent research indicates that banning smoking does help to prevent health problems, including heart attacks.
"The balance of evidence suggests that legislative smoking bans have achieved their primary objective of reducing exposure to secondhand smoke. The impact on active smoking is not yet conclusively demonstrated," says Professor Kelleher in a press release dated April 13, 2010.


A team of researchers used data from 50 different studies that followed 50 different situations where smoking bans had been implemented. People often react negatively to any restrictive rules, but researchers found that once the smoking bans were in place people approved of them.