Public Smoking Bans Apparently Reducing Heart Attacks

Smoking bans in various municipalities across the U.S. have bet with resistance among those hoarse-voiced coughers who like to share their habit with the public at large. For the most part, however, the bans have been met with cheers among non-smokers and the health-conscious, even as some smokers erroneously associate their right to smoke in public places with libertarian causes. Now, however, going beyond the debate between those who are for or against the bans, a new study shows that prohibiting smoking in public places has actually lessened the risk for heart attacks. There have been multiple teams of researchers studying the issue, with results that may be a bit surprising.

One team found that bans in the U.S., Canada and Europe had an almost immediate effect on the number of heart attacks suffered in areas where bans were in place, with further evidence suggesting that the positive effects continue to increase as time passes. That study showed that heart attacks decreased by 17% in the first year of the ban, and 36% after three years. A second team, studying the issue independently from the first, found that the bans reduced the heart attack risk by 26%.

Dr. David Meyers, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine let a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and noted, "Public smoking bans seem to be tremendously effective in reducing heart attack and, theoretically, might also help to prevent lung cancer and emphysema, diseases that develop much more slowly than heart attacks. Even breathing in low doses of cigarette smoke can increase one’s risk of heart attack."