Jump to full article: Gloucester County (NJ) Times, 2009-10-19
Author: Carly Romalino
Intro: Cigarette smokers who were bummed about the smoking ban in restaurants, offices and other public places should know that their sacrifice has decreased the cases of heart attack and heart disease.
It's widely known that cigarette smoke is toxic to cigarette smokers, according to cardiologist Dr. Marc Klapholz, but unfiltered secondhand smoke can also cause complications.
A report by the Institute of Medicine, a federally commissioned panel of scientists, found a significant reduction on heart problems after the smoking ban was in place Ð in smokers and non-smokers.
Klapholz said that for non-smokers who shared indoor spaces with those who light up, the secondhand smoke could be more toxic than smoke that directly enters a smoker's lungs.
"A cigarette burns for two minutes, (and) they might be inhaling for 30 seconds or a minute," said Klapholz, director of the Department of Cardiology and professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's medical school. "Most of the smoke goes into the ambient environment."
Klapholz said the IOM report develops a full picture, that cigarettes not only cause problems, "but when you stop it, it prevents things."
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