The Triangle

Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News

Media Credit: MCT Campus

NEW YORK - Heart attack rates in New York State have fallen 8 percent since the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2003, which outlawed smoking in bars, restaurants and other public spaces, according to a new study that is causing much ire among the pro-smoking rights community.

The study reported that, because of the smoking ban, there were 3,813 fewer hospital admissions in 2004 for heart attacks.

The five-page report - published in the Sept. 27 issue of American Journal of Public Health - was conducted by the New York State Department of Health. The research team consisted of seven doctors and consultants, led by Dr. Harlan Juster.

The report expanded upon previous studies of smoking bans across the country, particularly one done in Helena, Mont., which reported a 40 percent drop in heart attacks after the ban was implemented.

"When the Helena study was published, it was clear that the next step would be to see if it were possible to measure a health outcome associated with the [2003] law," Juster said.

The law, passed in July 2003, was a statewide ban on smoking in all public establishments, except for private residences, personal cars, Indian casinos and cigar bars that were already registered in New York City, according to CNN. Violators can face fines up to $1,000 per violation, CNN said.

Andrew Hyland of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute was a consultant on the medical team who worked on the study. He also cited the previous cases, like Helena.

"Evidence from smaller places was pretty dramatic, so that made us think, 'We're New York, we're a big place, we should take a look at this,' " Hyland said.

The study team has not made a conclusion about whether the 8-percent drop was caused exclusively by a decrease in secondhand smoke, or a decrease in the number of smokers in the state.

"Both are probably contributing to the decrease [in heart attacks], but we don't know for sure," Hyland said. "There are simply fewer opportunities during the day to smoke [with a ban], motivating more people to quit."

But Audrey Silk, who founded the smoker's rights group NYC C.L.A.S.H. in 2000, said the entire study was flawed.

"This report has no merit," she said. "The most glaring error in this report is that they have no control group. And in their own words, they 'predicted based on estimation.' "

Michael McFadden, an active smokers' rights lobbyist in Pennsylvania and the author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains," said the Helena study was an anomaly.

"These sorts of studies are all basically copycats of the original 'Great Helena Heart Miracle' study," he said.

But smokers at New York University U seem more upset by the ban than the way the study was conducted.

Junior Tom Tolbert said a smoking ban is "un-American."

"Sooner or later they're gonna start taking away our bacon cheeseburgers in the interest of petty little things like 'heart attacks,' " said Tolbert, an administrator of the Facebook group "Cigarettes Kill the Pain: A Cancer Stick Appreciation Group." The group has 28 members.

But almost 500 NYU students are in the Facebook group "100% NON-Smokers." And according to Juster and Hyland, those students are following a much safer route.

"Even short-term exposure to secondhand smoke leads to abnormal cardiac functioning," Hyland said.

The full report is available on the American Journal's website, www.ajph.org.

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