The Alabama Chapter of the American College of Cardiology |
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2009 Smoking Cessation Smoking Ban Laws Save Lives (Published in The Montgomery Advertiser, October 27, 2009)
Most Americans fail to appreciate the impact of smoking on our health and financial well-being. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tabulates smoking as the number one preventable killer of Americans every year since the first US Surgeon General's Report in 1964.
The current estimate is that 438,000 of us die each year, about a third each from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other causes such as lung disease, sudden infant death, pneumonia, and other infectious diseases. The amount of additional nonfatal disease and disability is mind-boggling. The annual financial cost of health care and lost productivity was last estimated by the CDC at over $200 billion.
They found that study results consistently indicate that exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 25 to 30%. (There are) increased risks even at the lowest levels of exposure.
They reviewed eleven studies looking at the impact of public bans on smoking, each of which showed a reduction in the risk of heart attacks and acute coronary syndromes anywhere from 6 to 47%, with benefits conferred to nonsmokers and smokers alike. This would translate to prevention of hundreds of thousands of heart attacks and other acute coronary events each year in this country.
They
concluded that data consistently demonstrates that secondhand-smoke exposure
increases the risk of coronary heart disease and heart attacks and that smoking
bans reduce heart attacks. Given the prevalence of heart attacks, and the
resultant deaths, smoking bans can have a substantial impact on public health.
The savings, as measured in human lives, is undeniable.
We
feel that it is time for the Alabama House and Senate to pass meaningful
legislation protecting us, our families, our patients, and our fellow citizens
from this hazard. Please contact your representative by going to
www.legislature.state.al.us/, and telling them that you support their
efforts to improve the health and financial well-being of Alabamians and the
state. To find out what else you can do to help in this fight, go to
www.tobaccofreealabama.org.
Sincerely,
Michael B. Honan, M.D., F.A.C.C., Immediate Past-President
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