NO SMOKING in night venues coming soon BRAVO!

[Marsilius]

News today in the UK: a report on the effects of the introduction of the smoking ban in Scotland shows a huge fall in the number of heart attacks in the past year (down 17% in one year, whereas it had previously been falling by about 3% per year).

It's suggested that many "social" smokers who only indulged on the odd evening out with smoking friends have now given up completely.

News today in the UK: a report on the effects of the introduction of the smoking ban in Scotland shows a huge fall in the number of heart attacks in the past year (down 17% in one year, whereas it had previously been falling by about 3% per year).

It's suggested that many "social" smokers who only indulged on the odd evening out with smoking friends have now given up completely.

I find that surprising given this:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/newspa ... 601421.ece

SALES of cigarettes in Scotland have increased since the ban on smoking in public places was introduced earlier this year, confounding predictions by politicians and health experts.

Despite expectations that there would be a drop in the number of smokers and in the amount of tobacco being smoked, Scots are now buying 61,000 more packets of cigarettes every week than before the ban was introduced.

The trend тАФ which reflects the experiences of other countries that have banned smoking in public тАФ is believed to be partly driven by people smoking more at home.

Other countries also saw a rise in the number of young people smoking because the habit came to be seen more as an act of rebellion.

[Marsilius]

Maybe the answer to that apparent paradox is that (1) the "social" smokers have seized the opportunity of the ban to give up completely as mentioned above (hence the decline in heart attacks which is so statistically pronounced that it cannot be random or a statistical error), but (2) the rump of hard-core smokers who are left are, between them, buying more cigarettes overall as they puff away like mad in the more limited opportunities now left available to them.

Just a theory...

See http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd31e40c-5fce ... fd2ac.html for the full story as reported in the Financial Times.

"The Nation

All BMA workplaces to be non smoking next year
All workplaces of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will be non smoking by next year, according to Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Pensri Pichaisanith. She said all offices under the control of the BMA would be "green zones" that prohibit smoking in offices, including schools and primary healthcare units.

BMA staff who break the rules will be fined Bt2,000 under the 1992 NonSmokers Health Protection Act. The BMA's department of health introduced smokingfree zones last year in its offices and included schools and health units. But only 310 out of 1,750 workplaces joined the programme.

A survey of the BMA's health agency found that 200 offices in City Hall 1 and 824 in City Hall 2 still allowed smoking. The car park was the favourite place for smokers.

Pensri said it was still hard work for health officers to change people's behaviour. Even though the government had issued the protection act, there was no law enforcement, so smoking in the workplace remained high.

"Most staff members do not know about the law that prohibits smoking in workplace areas. We have to inform them every time we see them smoking," she added. However, she urged nonsmoking staff to report immediately to the health office if they see any smokers in prohibited areas.

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation