A report by the Chief Medical Officer has found that the number of people suffering heart attacks has reduced since the smoking ban in Wales began. However, according to the BBC Dr Tony Jewell said smoking still cost the NHS £127 for each person and binge drinking and obesity also need tackling. He said NHS cash was best spent on avoiding chronic diseases developing.
Dr Jewell says that although the decline could not be wholly attributed to the smoking ban, some studies suggested at least some of the reduction was due to the ban on smoking in public places, which was brought in in April 2007.
He said research for the Welsh Assembly Government found “clear evidence” of a reduction in exposure to smoking environments, while it was “encouraging” smoking had not shifted to the home or increased exposure to children.
Clearly, the fears around the ban have proved ill-founded whilst there have been clear health benefits. Nevertheless, the purpose of the ban, to protect workers from second-hand smoke was the main motivation for introducing the ban and that has been effective too.
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You are misleading. The report states the number of hospital admissions following heart attacks has reduced slightly. That is different from the number of people who had heart attacks.
Much the same thing I think!
Peter, I think you need to do a bit more research before writing: “A report by the Chief Medical Officer has found that the number of people suffering heart attacks has reduced since the smoking ban in Wales began. ”
It’s true that that is what the report said. But you need to understand that antismoking advocates lie. They lie often, they lie generally, they lie so much that it’s almost rare to find them telling the truth at all nowadays. Take just a few minutes to read Dr. Michael Siegel’s excellent analysis of the “Welsh Report” at:
http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/12/wales-report-claims-that-smoking-ban.html
and historian Christopher Snowdon’s analysis of it at:
http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2009/12/welsh-miracle-is-not-dead-it-just.html
and
http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2009/12/smoking-ban-cuts-suicide-rate.html
and then see if you still want to stand by what you’ve written here or perhaps add either a correction or an outraged new article about how you were misled by supposedly responsible authorities.
Michael J. McFadden
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
P.S. A note on Dr. Siegel before you dismiss him too lightly: He is a 20 year veteran antismoking activist/advocate/researcher himself who only recently became so disgusted with the amount of lying going on in that community that he created his “Rest of the Story” blog to create a balance. He is most definitely not a “pro-smoker” by any stretch of the imagination.
- MJM
Was there any reason for not publishing my previous (totally inoffensive) comment here at ‘freedom’ central?
I can find no trace of a previous comment CJS
I’ll try again then…
It is true to say that heart attacks fell in the year after the smoking ban. But what isn’t reported is that heart attacks have been falling in Wales for years, and were falling more sharply before the ban. Heart attacks have been falling in most Western counties for many years. The implementation of any law will very likely be followed by a fall in the heart attack rate.
What also isn’t reported is that the heart attack rose in the second year of the ban. When you take this into account the Welsh heart miracle looks a little less convincing, no?
Creating a lie doesn’t always have to involve telling untruths. Sometimes it can be done by leaving out information. That’s what happened here.
I wrote two of the articles Mr McFadden links to above. Have a look at the graph of hospital admissions and tell me the smoking ban had an effect on heart attacks.