Smoking bans in public places work.
Whether that’s enough to motivate Pennsylvania lawmakers into closing the loopholes in the commonwealth’s flawed law remains to be seen.
Reuters news service reports U.S. researchers have concluded that smoking bans in public places can reduce the number of heart attacks by as much as 36 percent. They based their conclusions on data from 13 studies of smoking bans in communities in the United States, Canada and Europe.
In an article published in the journal Circulation, researchers reported heart attack rates fall immediately after smoking bans are put in place, dropping by 17 percent in the first year and by as much as 36 percent after three years.
Inaction is inexcusable. The dangers of secondhand smoke are real and often fatal.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, long-term exposure to secondhand smoke can raise heart disease rates in adult nonsmokers by 25 percent to 30 percent.
Reuters also reports the CDC and Heart Association say that secondhand smoke kills an estimated 46,000 Americans every year from heart disease alone. Smoking also causes several types of cancer, stroke and emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Yet given these facts, state lawmakers continue to sanction at law that is literally killing people.
State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Bucks and Montgomery, has been trying to clean up the year-old Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act by closing its loopholes. Knowing what we now know about the dangers of secondhand smoke and the health benefits of total indoor smoking bans in public places, it is hard to see how state lawmakers can, in good conscience, continue to sanction the status quo.
If lawmakers want to improve the lives of state residents, they should back Greenleaf’s effort.