Thursday, January 1, 2009

Smoking Ban Decreases Heart Attacks

Here's a bit of encouragement for those of you hopefully making one of your New Year's resolutions kicking the smoking habit: a smoking ban caused heart attacks to drop by more than 40 percent in Pueblo, Colorado and the decrease lasted three years. A smoking ban in work and public places was passed in 2003 in Pueblo, and a study found there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attacks in the 18 months before the ban and 237 heart attack hospitalizations in the next year and a half -- a decline of 41 percent! "We know that exposure to second-hand smoke has immediate harmful effects on people's cardiovascular systems, and that prolonged exposure to it can cause heart disease in nonsmoking adults," said Janet Collins, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "This study adds to existing evidence that smoke-free policies can dramatically reduce illness and death from heart disease."

NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM SMOKING! NOTHING! If you haven't already done so, make stopping a resolution for 2009. Make 2009 your time to quit.

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