Smoking bans cut premature births- Children also being spared asthma attacks

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/28/premature-births-cut-by-smoking-bans
<snip>
Banning smoking in public places has helped to cut premature births by 10%, according to new research from the United States and Europe.

A study in the Lancet medical journal found that while the impact of anti-smoking laws varied between countries, the overall effect on child health around the world had been positive.

The research in the Lancet analysed data on more than 2.5 million births and almost 250,000 hospital attendances for asthma attacks. It was the first comprehensive study to look at how anti-smoking laws affect children's health.

With results from five North American studies of local bans and six European studies on national bans, it found rates of both pre-term births and hospital attendance for asthma fell by 10% within a year of smoke-free laws coming into effect.

"Together with the known health benefits in adults our study provides clear evidence that smoking bans have considerable public health benefits for perinatal and child health," said Been.
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http://jamaica-gleaner.com/extra/article.php?id=3058
<snip>
Health Minister, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, says there has been a 20 per cent reduction in asthmatic admissions to hospitals since the imposition of the no smoking policy in specified public spaces.

The Minister, who was speaking at the official launch of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica’s (HFJ) annual ‘Run for your Heart’ event on Tuesday, urged Jamaicans to continue supporting the ban, noting that the country will see the gains in terms having a healthier society.

“Within another couple of years, you will see, as has happened in Northern Ireland and other countries, less heart attack, less strokes; and this is not at any big cost...all I ask of Jamaica is for support, that’s all I’m asking.”

[yeoman6987]

1. Ok so there is no cost?

“Within another couple of years, you will see, as has happened in Northern Ireland and other countries, less heart attack, less strokes; and this is not at any big cost…





Not any big cost? It is always amazing to me people who want people to live forever. That is not going to happen. We are seeing it already. We are decreasing heart attacks and strokes and replacing them with cancer and alzheimer's which are so expensive to treat and more so than a person who has a heart attack and dies quickly which a good many do. I am not saying that people need to die but the cost of keeping people alive longer with a "new reason" they die is not cheap regardless of what people seems to think.

[malaise]

2. So your argument is smoke away

and expose more children to asthma?

Spare me please

[yeoman6987]

3. Wow

I was discussing the second portion of the story. You can't just read titles and keep up.