Smoking ban sees coronaries halved

By JEREMY LAURANCE

British campaigners have stepped up demands for a national ban on smoking in public after new research suggested it could almost halve the number of heart attacks.

The call followed a study in a small town that outlawed smoking in public, which showed that hospital admissions for heart attacks fell 40 per cent in six months.

It is the first time a smoking ban has been shown to cut heart attacks, and the effect was so dramatic that the British Medical Association has renewed its demand that the Government impose a ban.

"This research confirms that passive smoking is a very real risk. It also shows how smoke-free public places protect health," said Vivienne Nathanson, the association's head of science and ethics.

The study was carried out in Helena, an isolated community in Montana with a population of 68,000.

Helena found itself in the unique position of imposing a law banning smoking in public in June 2002, only to have the ban reversed six months later by opponents of the law.

During the ban, smoking was outlawed in offices, factories, restaurants, bars and all public enclosed spaces. The effect on the town's heart attack rate was immediate, with a rapid fall in hospital admissions. They rose again once the ban was lifted.

During the six months of the ban, the number of heart attack admissions to the town's only hospital fell from an average of 40 to 24, a 40 per cent drop. After the ban ended, heart attack admissions rose again to their previous level. There was no significant drop in admissions for people living outside Helena.

Passive smoking is said to have long-term effects, increasing the risk of lung cancer and heart disease, but it also has short-term effects on the stickiness of the blood and the elasticity of the arteries, both of which increase the risk of a heart attack.

Professor Stanton Glantz and colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco, whose research is published in the on-line version of the British Medical Journal, say that the effects of second-hand smoke on the blood and arteries "occur rapidly and are nearly as large in passive as in active smokers".

They add: "The effect associated with the smoke-free law may seem large but is consistent with the observed effects of second-hand smoke on cardiac disease. Second-hand smoke increases the risk of a myocardial infarction by about 30 per cent."

This is the first study to report such an association and the researchers warn that, like any initial report, further research is needed to confirm the finding.

Deborah Arnott, British director of the anti-smoking group Ash, said the three studies were "vital pieces of evidence" on the need for tough action against second-hand smoke.

"The case for a new law to end smoking in the workplace and in enclosed public places is now overwhelming."


THE TOWN THAT OUTLAWED SMOKING

The US town of Helena, Montana, banned smoking in public but the ban was reversed after only six months.

During those six months hospital admissions for heart attacks fell by 40 per cent.

When the ban was reversed admissions went back to their original level.

- INDEPENDENT