XPost: soc.culture.british, soc.culture.israel, soc.culture.usa   
   XPost: soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.europe, soc.culture.france   
   From: rizvioct@optonline.net   
      
   NY Times   
   The Secondhand Smoking Gun   
   By ROSEMARY ELLIS   
      
   Six months into New York City's smoke-free ordinance, there has been a   
   spate of criticism about the wisdom of sticking by such a ban. The   
   most notable came in a roundabout swipe from none other than former   
   Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who declared during a trip to Ireland last   
   month that Irish citizens should have the choice to smoke in public   
   places. (Mr. Giuliani later tried to distance himself from his   
   comments.)   
      
   But if New York — as well as other cities and municipalities — is ever   
   tempted to rescind its smoking ban, it should look at the goings-on in   
   Helena, Mont. The citizens of Helena voted in June 2002 to ban smoking   
   in all public buildings — including restaurants, bars and casinos.   
   Soon after, doctors at the local hospital noticed that heart-attack   
   admissions were dropping. So they, in conjunction with the University   
   of California, San Francisco, did a study to measure the potential   
   short-term effects of a smoking ban.   
      
   Helena is a perfect place for such a study: relatively isolated, with   
   enough people in the region (66,000) for a meaningful population   
   sample, and only one cardiac-care hospital within a 60-mile radius. So   
   it was easy to control the study sample and methodology: if you get a   
   heart attack in Helena, there's only one place to go for treatment.   
      
   The study showed two trends. First, there was no change in heart   
   attack rates for patients who lived outside city limits. But for city   
   residents, the rates plummeted by 58 percent in only six months.   
      
   "We know from longer-term studies that the effects of secondhand smoke   
   occur within minutes, and that long-term exposure to secondhand smoke   
   is associated with a 30 percent increased risk in heart attack rates,"   
   says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine who conducted the study's   
   statistical analysis. "But it was quite stunning to document this   
   large an effect so quickly."   
      
   It was also stunning to witness what happened next. The Montana State   
   Legislature, under pressure from the Montana Tavern Association and   
   tobacco lobbyists, rescinded the ban in December. The result:   
   heart-attack rates bounced back up almost as quickly as they dropped.   
      
   The bottom line of Helena's plummeting, then soaring, heart attack   
   rate is painfully obvious: secondhand smoke kills. Only 30 minutes of   
   exposure to it causes platelets in the bloodstream to become stickier.   
   When that happens, blood clots form more easily, which can block   
   arteries and cause heart attacks.   
      
   Dr. Richard Sargent, one of the study's authors, points out that eight   
   hours of working in a smoky bar is equivalent to smoking a pack of   
   cigarettes a day. In such an environment, other studies have shown,   
   workers more than double their chances of developing cancer and   
   asthma, and pregnant workers put themselves at risk for miscarriage   
   and premature delivery.   
      
   All of which make Mr. Giuliani's comments particularly ill informed.   
   In addition, despite the dire economic predictions that preceded it,   
   the smoking ban in New York City does not appear to have drastically   
   depressed business. From March to June, the city created 10,000 new   
   restaurant and bar jobs, according to the Department of Labor. The   
   state Department of Taxation and Finance's most recent report of   
   alcohol and beer tax collections (which measures both on-premises   
   consumption and retail sales) shows that revenues rose to $15.2   
   million this past August, from $14.4 million in August 2002. And   
   although the tobacco lobby continues to finance a campaign claiming   
   that New Yorkers are unhappy with the ban, a poll released earlier   
   this month by Quinnipiac University reported that 59 percent of voters   
   in the state favor prohibiting smoking in public places; another   
   survey, commissioned in August by antismoking groups, found that 70   
   percent of New York City voters support it.   
      
   At a time when the city's budget is in tatters, smoking in public   
   places also sets off an enormous domino effect in public-health   
   spending by creating or worsening illnesses whose treatment costs are   
   eventually shouldered by taxpayers. For all of these reasons, New   
   Yorkers can't afford to be as easily defeated as the unfortunate   
   citizens of Helena — nor as easily manipulated by the tobacco lobby   
   and the politicians who are in its pocket.   
      
      
   Rosemary Ellis is editorial director of Prevention magazine.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)