Jump to full article: The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday (uk), 2007-09-10
Intro: The number of people rushed to hospital with a heart attack has fallen sharply since the start of Scotland's smoking ban, a report has found.
Researchers have found a 17 per cent fall in hospital admissions for heart attacks in the first year of the ban. Before it came into effect in March last year, the annual reduction over the preceding decade had been just 3 per cent.
The figure was published in research papers discussed today at a conference studying the impact of the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces.
Organisers said a national evaluation also found a 39 per cent reduction in second-hand smoke exposure in 11-year-olds and among adult non-smokers. . . .
The two-day conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre has attracted an international audience of health experts and policy-makers.
Scotland's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Peter Donnelly, said research presented at the conference showed the "significant" public health benefits the smoking ban was already having.
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