Fewer Heart Attack Deaths Post-Smoking Ban

Public Health Officials In Mass. Credit Less Secondhand Smoke

(AP)  An average of 577 fewer Massachusetts residents have died from heart attacks each year since a statewide ban on smoking in almost all restaurants, bars and workplaces took effect four years ago, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study conducted by the state Department of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health showed that the number of heart attacks began dropping in communities with strong anti-smoking laws even before the 2004 law. Reductions were also seen in communities after the state ban, and by the end of 2006, the rate of decline in all cities and towns had nearly converged.

The authors said the pattern shows that advances in treatment of heart attacks were not responsible for the smaller number of deaths. The study also accounted for variables including pollution, smoking prevalence and seasonality before concluding the smoking ban was the biggest factor in declining deaths.

"While there may be several factors that played a role in this decline, we believe the single most compelling reason was reduced exposure to secondhand smoke in workplaces across the state," DPH Commissioner John Auerbach said.

[grammawhamma]

Strong perfumes and colognes also trigger severe asthma attacks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You want to talk about deadly fumes? Go sit in an enclosed area with just one car running. When are you going to be willing to give up your form of transportation and start walking? Yeah, that''s right, I didn''t think so.

At least people have the option of avoiding second hand smoke....but unless you live in the wilderness you are forced to breath in auto exhaust. When are you going to jump on that band wagon?

[grammawhamma]

To the guy that had the heart attack after being exposed to 2nd hand smoke for 2 hours in a semi-enclosed area. I believe that you did have a heart attack...but sir, as a nurse, I''m positive it was not caused by the 2nd hand smoke.

[rf35]

I doubt the decrease was due to the smoking ban. More likely that it is another beneficial effect of global warming.

[rudy6543]

Posted by billpl at 12:42 AM

Thousands die every year due to smoking. Idiot.

[billpl-2009]

what a bunch of krapp.

if that was true, there wouldn''t be any smokers
they''d all be dead in less than a year

Anybody got a light?
Posted by Osiod9
----
Sure, where do you want me to flame you?

[clathrate]

That is probably the main "unmentioned" reason for the cause of cancer, leading to fairy tale beliefs of second-hand smoke. ----posted by Rushman71

Second hand smoke has been documented in THOUSANDS of studies to contain very harmful chemicals. Unlike the smoke you draw in when you inhale, second hand smoke isn''t even filtered, so it has a much higher tar content.

As an asthmatic, I can tell you personally that YES, second hand smoke is harmful. I''ve had several instances now of having asthma attacks so bad that even my rescue inhaler wasn''t enough and I had to go to the ER.

You are entitled to do whatever you want with your own body, but don''t expect the rest of us to tolerate it when you affect OUR health, through no choice or fault of our own. That is why I don''t have much sympathy for "smokers rights", you are asking for all of the rights and none of the responsibility, and it affects more than just you if you''d stop being so bloody self-centered.

[viscor]

I would go further than that:

Do you mind if I smoke?

No. Do you mind if I spraw nerve gas in your face?

Farts can''t kill you but smoke certainly can. :-)


"- Do you mind if I smoke?
- No. Do you mind if I f art?

Do what you like with your own lungs but don''''''''t expect me to breathe it or pay for your medical treatment. "

[troutfisher4]

Tell me, does ANYONE know of a person in their family, at work, friends--anyone--who has passed away due to the effects of second hand smoke? Probably not!!!

Posted by rushman71


My aunt died of lung cancer, after being exposed to her husbands second-hand smoke for years.

[scottyusa]

The declining heart attack rate in Mass. is probably due to mandatory health insurance. I doubt that this particular study is on the mark. These studies conducted by "experts" kill me. We use the term so loosely everyone is an expert.

[voxpopulus]

- Do you mind if I smoke?
- No. Do you mind if I f art?

Do what you like with your own lungs but don''''t expect me to breathe it or pay for your medical treatment.

[voxpopulus]

- Do you mind if I smoke?
- No. Do you mind if I ***.

Do what you like with your own lungs but don''t expect me to breathe it or pay for your medical treatment.

[osiod9]

Anybody got a light?

[skinnyminny2]

I completely agree with the drunk driving argument. These people are a menace and, knowing many police officers and having been a medic myself, you can''t believe how many people do it. That''s one group of offenders I can honestly say I hate. I was nearly killed by one on my bike years ago.

Smokers? Annoying. Drunk drivers? Monsters who don''t deserve to drive ever again. But we''re digressing....

[itgranny]

note how they are careful to say heart attack deaths have gone down and not heart attack incidences. Some day there will come a time when we look at all the statistics and wonder how anybody could believe the lies and twisted statements.

Don''t get me wrong, the cigarette company executives are low-lifes for increasing the addictive properties of cigarettes. Cigarette smoke (and smokers and their clothes, homes and cars) do smell. I can think of no reasons to begin smoking but at the same time, there''s no reason to throw misinformation and funky statistics into it.

[rushman71]

For the non-smoking health freaks who are out to take my RIGHTS away--I''ll quit smoking, only if you quit driving!!! There is so much more CO2 emmissions coming from cars from all over the world than there are smokers. That is probably the main "unmentioned" reason for the cause of cancer, leading to fairy tale beliefs of second-hand smoke. Uncle Sam doesn''t want you to know about that!!!

Tell me, does ANYONE know of a person in their family, at work, friends--anyone--who has passed away due to the effects of second hand smoke? Probably not!!!

[skinnyminny2]

I personally do not ''hate'' smokers nor do I care if people smoke. I just don''t want to breathe it because it stinks. Anyway, smoke away. I don''t care about you or your health because it is your business. Just keep it to yourself is all (honestly,I probably wouldn''t mind smokers so much if cigarettes smelled more like strawberries and less like a$$). I guess some people like to stink.

[rudy6543]

I am proud to be their target, and consider my smoking - since it is politically correct to despise me - to have, at least to some extent, alleviated racism or gender bias or one or another of the historical bigotries by providing that sort of person with a socially-acceptable alternative.


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Posted by ibsteve2u at 01:22 PM

You are just so full of it. I have relatives for whom I care deeply that smoke. I don''t hate them nor do I look down upon them, but I sure wish they didn''t smoke. I hate to see that the smoking industry has them so hooked on a drug that depletes their money left and right. I hate to see them so addicted that if they don''t smoke they can''t function. I hate to see the slow and debilitating effects it takes on their health from day to day causing throat damage, disgusting hacking and coughing that they try to say is just a cold, and then to watch people end up on oxygen tanks and for WHAT???? To keep a bunch of tobacco executives rich??? People who defend this krap make me sick.

[missingamerica]

I find it interesting how you and dogsoul both resort to personal attacks (small minded, stupid).

Posted by daren12 at 01:50 PM : Nov 12, 2008

Now I will be the one to split hairs (I happen to be waiting for a process to complete on one of my systems, so I have the time).

I never said that any one particular person was "small-minded", and that would include not saying that you were "small-minded".

My exact words were "I have found that the more rabidly vicious the anti-smoker, the smaller the mind."

I understand those who do not want to be around cigarette smoke because of the odor, the possible health effects, etc.

I do not like being around factories that emit tons of heavy metals and carcinogens, but I have no industry selling products to alleviate the effects of withdrawal from pollution to back me up, and the insurance companies make too much money from their corporate clients to be honest in that arena.

But some people go far beyond expressing their distaste...those are the ones I call "small-minded":

The people who jump at any excuse to disparage others.

[dogsoul]

Yeah right - you go online to ''find out why'' - and in a sweeping oversimplification come to the conclusion that your half hour of semi outdoor second hand smoke caused your heart attack... I''m sure a medical doctor would laugh at that diagnosis.

Buddy - you were going to have a heart attack even if you had spent the night by yourself on a pristine beach in Hawaii...

I don''t smoke - but you see, there''s a problem with idiots like yourself & agenda driven liars using faulty studies. The thinking is - hey, smoking is bad for you so who cares if we trump up a bunch of b.s. - the ends justify the means, right? Well, what ends up happening is that you degrade (have degraded more accurately) the credibility of said studies such that they become absolutely meaningless... and while you may see some short-term gains, it ends up hurting yours & many other causes in the long run.