Smoking Bans Have Reduced Heart Attacks and Strokes Internationally

According to Circulation Magazine, 10/2012, with the rampant smoking bans occurring heart attack-related hospitalizations have fallen 15% in communities passing laws banning smoking in public establishments and workplaces. The analysis supposedly involved 45 studies covering 33 laws in the U.S. as well as New Zealand and Germany. Stroke hospitalizations are also reported to have fallen 16% while hospitalizations for respiratory disease fell 24%. The senior author of the article, Stanton Glantz, the director for the Center for Tobacco and Control Research Education at UCSF, stated that the more comprehensive the law the greater the impact according to Liz Szabo of USA Today, 10/30/2012. Supposedly, or at least in Minnesota, this occurred despite increased rates of obesity occurring simultaneously. It further quoted a Mayo Clinic study citing that smoke-free homes in Minnesota increased from 64.5% in 1999 to 87.2% in 2010. Secondhand smoke apparently affects non-smokers blood vessels in as little as 5 minutes causing increased risk of heart attack. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 46,000 non-smokers die from secondhand smoke yearly.