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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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KY: Indoor Air Pollution Plummets After Lexington Implements Smoking Ban [10/28-4]
Excerpts from: Indoor air pollution plummets after city smoke ban
By Lexington Herald-Leader [10/27/04]Wednesday marked six months since enforcement of Fayette County’s smoking ban began.
The UK researchers collected and analyzed tiny particles found in the air in 10 Lexington establishments on weekend nights both before and after the smoking ban took effect.
Ultimately, the researchers expect to find that improvement in indoor quality could lower Fayette County’s number of heart attacks and episodes of asthma.
“This isn’t just about smokers’ rights,” said Dr. Thomas Whayne, a heart specialist at UK’s Gill Heart Institute. “It’s about people who are clearly at risk.”
In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first-ever warning to people at high risk of heart disease to avoid all sources of indoor smoking, whether at home or in public.
The warning accompanied a study showing that the number of heart attacks in Helena, Mont., decreased by 40 percent during a six-month period after the city banned indoor smoking in 2002, then jumped back to its previous level after the law was struck down in court.
The UK researchers are studying local health effects of the smoking ban, including whether there is a similar reduction in heart attacks in Fayette County. They’re also studying incidence of asthma.
Ellen Hahn, one of the study’s principal investigators, said the preliminary results of research on the ban’s effect on heart disease and asthma could be available in the next 18 months.
Hahn and UK’s Kiyoung Lee led the study, which analyzed indoor air at three restaurants, three bars, two music clubs, a bowling alley and a coffeehouse.
They took the air-quality samples using a device that measures particles in the air.
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