"By lumping 11 studies together, we have increased the certainty that smoking bans really do reduce the risk of heart attack," lead author Dr David G Meyers (University of Kansas School of Public Medicine, Kansas City) told heartwire. Meyers and colleagues report their findings online September 21, 2009 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Meyers says there are some additional messages from this review. Although they found, on average, a 17% reduction in AMI, this figure is "deceptive," he says, because they also showed—in longer-term studies—a 26% decrease in heart attacks per year that the ban had existed. So this proves "the longer a community bans smoking, the greater the effect." It also appears the people who seem to derive the greatest benefit from the bans are younger and often predominantly female—likely those working in the hospitality and entertainment industry, he says.
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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Nightcrawlerx.
The number of factors involved and the evidence to support such a claim is almost impossible to track. Not to mention that a study of this magnitude would take several decades before a conclusion could be drawn.
Research studies are bought and paid for by people/organizations with something to gain. Scientific researchers are whores.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7451/
"Although The Sunday Times claimed a 10 per cent drop in heart attacks, nowhere in the 500 word article was a source mentioned and no one was quoted giving this figure. The ‘study’ the newspaper referred to does not exist, and the anti-smoking pressure group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) – not renowned for downplaying the risks of passive smoking – went to the unusual lengths of posting a notice on its website the following day to point out that ‘the figures reported in The Sunday Times yesterday (and now circulating elsewhere) are not based on any research conducted to date’"
Several other studies showing supposed benefits are listed - and debunked - in the article in Spiked.
There may have been an effect, but not to the extent this supposed "study" purported to find. More likely so small as to be "statistically insignificant."
That's reassuringly professional!
Oh, and I'm a non-smoker. Why isn't anyone beating up on the fat and obese?