Member Article

Smoking ban is 'vital' for North East

The introduction of the smoking ban in July is “vital”, according to a North East charity. Fresh – Smoke Free North East have cited a recent study which found that secondhand smoke exposure can increase the risk of heart disease by up to thirty percent. Researchers from the University of Nottingham found that people exposed to secondhand smoke have a much higher likelihood of suffering from heart disease, even though people who inhale secondhand smoke only inhale about 1/100th the dose of smoke inhaled by the smokers themselves.

Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh – Smoke Free North East says: “This research further proves why the forthcoming smoke-free law on 1 July is so vital to help prevent these totally unnecessary and preventable deaths. “The North East suffers from some of the highest heart disease rates in the country and protecting non-smokers from the lethal exposure to second-hand smoke is crucial.”

Dr Colin Doig, Consultant Cardiologist at North Tyneside Hospital, said: “This reinforces what we have always known – that tobacco represents a major threat to a person’s health, either through being a smoker or exposure to someone else’s smoke. “Tobacco is one of the most addictive drugs we know of and this evidence, which underlines the dangerous impact of secondhand smoke, emphasises just how important government health drives are to reduce exposure to other people’s smoke by changes in where we allow people to smoke.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .