Smoking Bans Good for Inhabitants' Health

Clean air has been ubiquitous around the state’s public spaces for more than two years thanks to the smoking ban. And the evidence is in that similar bans do more than banish smoke-filled workplaces – they improve residents’ health. Minnesota's Mayo Clinic found hospitalizations for heart attacks, strokes and respiratory diseases fell dramatically after governments passed workplace smoking bans. Hospital stays were down 15 percent for heart attacks; 16 percent for strokes; and 24 percent for respiratory diseases. More telling: the more dramatic the ban, the better the implications on health. Remarkably, the residents under the analysis weren't dramatically improving their health otherwise. For example, obesity and diabetes increased in Minnesota; cholesterol levels and blood pressure stayed flat during the same time period. The analysis looked at the impacts of 33 smoke-free laws in U.S. cities and states and New Zealand and Germany, USA Today reported earlier this week. It included workplace bans and bans that made exemptions, and found more stringent bans made the difference. USA Today points out federal and state taxes rose significantly over that time period, too, which points to the positive implications of putting up obstacles to unhealthy habits. The analysis found fewer light up at home – smoke-free homes rose to about 88 percent in 2010, over about 65 percent in ’99. Bottom line, the smoking ban made the habit inconvenient and, in indoor, public places, illegal. What fewer cigarettes means to smokers and non-smokers alike – and businesses and taxpayers – is serious savings in health-care costs. The change in consumer habits has a ripple effect.