Jump to full article: Philippine Daily Inquirer (ph), 2009-10-27
Author: Anna Valmero INQUIRER.net
Intro: Second-hand smoke causes over 20 percent of the number of heart attacks in Metro Manila, officials from the Department of Health (DoH) said on Monday.
One to seven hours of weekly exposure to second-hand smoke increases the number of heart attacks or acute myocardial infarction by 10 percent and a weekly exposure of 21 hours in turn raises the number of heart attacks by 20 percent, said DoH Secretary Francisco Duque III quoting an international study.
The study from the World Lung Foundation and International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) also found that over 50 percent of Filipinos in Manila are exposed to second-hand smoke daily--meaning there is a high likelihood of regular exposure to passive smoking, said Duque.
The health secretary added heart attacks and circulatory systems diseases--the top two killer diseases in 2005 which caused over 130,000 deaths--are caused by exposure to second-hand smoking, a scenario that can be prevented if tobacco control ordinances are implemented and followed nationwide.
Globally, over five million people die from tobacco smoke-related illnesses, with 13,000 to 18,000 of these from the Philippines, said Bloomberg Philanthropies representative Kelly Larson.
The Union representative Bill Bellew said the proper implementation of ordinances on tobacco control in over 10 countries were in place, a reduction of 17 percent to 50 percent in the number of heart attacks was noted.
In line with this, The Union and Bloomberg Philanthropies gave DoH a grant of $745,000 to launch a program to intensify the ban against smoking and the implementation of Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 through information campaigns and strict implementation of tobacco control ordinances, said Duque.
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