The study, conducted by the state Department of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health, shows that a steep decline in heart attack deaths started as Boston and most of its neighbors adopted bans. Enforcement of the statewide law beginning in mid-2004 coincided with a further reduction, the study found. From 2003 to 2006, heart attack deaths in Massachusetts plummeted 30 percent, significantly accelerating what had been a more modest long-term decline.
The report found that the number of heart attacks began dropping in communities with strong antismoking laws years before the 2004 statewide law and that similar reductions were achieved in other cities and towns only after the state ban. By the end of 2006 the rate of decline in all cities and towns had nearly converged.In a 2002 survey conducted by the Palau Tobacco Control Program, the Secondhand Smoke Opinion Survey 2002, 89% of respondents said they prefer a restaurant that does not allow smoking. The respondents were both smokers and nonsmokers. Nonsmokers overwhelmingly (95%) prefer restaurants that do not allow smoking.Smoke-free restaurant and bar laws and smoke-free workplace policies are important because:• There is overwhelming scientific evidence that secondhand tobacco smoke is a direct cause of lung cancer, heart disease and lung and bronchial infections• Smoke-free laws help protect restaurant and bar employees and patrons from the harms of secondhand smoke• Smoke-free laws help smokers who want to quit smoking by providing them with public environments free from any pressure or temptation to smokeFor more information about going smoke-free, please contact 488-8118 or E-mail: [email protected]
