Free At Last
Jan. 2nd, 2009 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
litchI have quite a bit of sympathy for the people who gripe about smoke-free laws. Even though I don't smoke cigarettes I was raised by smokers and it feels like an unwarranted intrusion on people's freedom. It's very hard to believe that someone simply smoking in the same airspace as you could really have all that deleterious effect. Then there was a study done about 5 years ago when Helena, Montana banned smoking in public and they found heart attacks fell by 60%.
There were a lot of problems with that study, it had a very small sample size, there were a number of potential cofactors, and it just didn't seem to make sense that there would be such a major difference.
Well, they did another study in Pueblo and using a much larger sample size over a longer period they found a similar 40% drop in heart attacks.Studies in Italy and Scotland have found drops as well (though they are more like 15%). So it looks like smoking in public really does have a major effect on the frequency of heart attacks.
It is something that really stands out about austin (which has a public smoking ban) when you go to other towns. It is odd to have the hostess ask you if you want smoking or non-smoking. And I suspect it is going to become more and more rare.
There were a lot of problems with that study, it had a very small sample size, there were a number of potential cofactors, and it just didn't seem to make sense that there would be such a major difference.
Well, they did another study in Pueblo and using a much larger sample size over a longer period they found a similar 40% drop in heart attacks.Studies in Italy and Scotland have found drops as well (though they are more like 15%). So it looks like smoking in public really does have a major effect on the frequency of heart attacks.
It is something that really stands out about austin (which has a public smoking ban) when you go to other towns. It is odd to have the hostess ask you if you want smoking or non-smoking. And I suspect it is going to become more and more rare.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 07:27 pm (UTC)I think the essential problem for france is that the language the world educates, debates, and argues in is irrevocably becoming english. 300 years of gallic pride leaves a mighty big lump in the throat.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 03:50 pm (UTC)http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/intersection-repair/
just to be fair
Date: 2009-01-02 06:11 pm (UTC)those youngins :)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 05:54 pm (UTC)