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Published: November 25, 2007 5:02 a.m.

Editorials

No smoke or mirrors

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Attack on heart attacks
Multiple studies have documented decreases in heart attack reports after smoking bans were implemented.

Scotland

: Hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped by 17 percent in the year after a smoking ban was introduced.

Ireland

: The rate of heart attacks fell by 11 percent in the year after a smoking ban went into effect in 2004.

Helena, Mont.: Heart attacks fell by more than a half after a six-month indoor smoking ban in 2003, but climbed to their usual number after the ban was suspended by a legal challenge.

Pueblo, Colo.: Hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped by 27 percent in the 18 months after a ban on smoking in workplaces and public buildings. No decline for surrounding Pueblo County or for Colorado Springs, where no bans were in place.

New York

: Study finds an 8 percent drop in heart attacks in the year after a statewide ban went into effect.

If the evidence that persuaded a majority of the Fort Wayne City Council to adopt a comprehensive smoking ban last January isn’t enough for some newly elected council members, here’s more: Research from an Indiana University study showed a 70 percent decrease in heart attacks in non-smokers where a smoking ban was implemented.

The study, published in the Journal of Drug Education, compared hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) in Monroe County, where a countywide ban was in effect, to Delaware County, where no ban was in effect at the time of the study. The two counties, home to IU-Bloomington and Ball State University, are comparable in population, median income, racial and ethnic diversity and death rates due to disease.

The results were notable: In comparing hospital admissions 22 months before the ban was implemented and 22 months after, Monroe County had 70 percent fewer non-smoking patients admitted for heart attacks. In Delaware County, the decline for non-smokers was just 11 percent.

“Heart attack admissions for smokers saw no similar decline during the study, so the benefits of the ban appear to come more from the reduced exposure to secondhand smoke among non-smokers than from reduced consumption of tobacco among smokers,” said Dong-Chul Seo, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Health Science at IU-Bloomington.

Councilman-elect Marty Bender has pledged to reintroduce Fort Wayne’s smoking ban next year. He wants to amend it to allow smoking in bars and adults-only clubs. Councilwoman-elect Karen Goldner and Councilmen Tom Didier and Glynn Hines also have said they are open to amendments. Councilman-elect Mitch Harper also has said he would have supported an amendment to the original ban.

Effective Jan. 1, that leaves just four council members committed to a comprehensive ban. Those who would support an amendment should look closely at the IU study. It indicates a ban mostly benefits those exposed to secondhand smoke, which would include non-smoking employees of some of the same establishments the new councilmen want to accommodate. People who have chosen not to smoke but are dependent on paychecks from bars and restaurants are the people who most need the health protection of a smoking ban.

There are plenty of reasons not to roll back the restrictions. The IU study adds a compelling one to the mix.