[clarie]

Originally Posted by SlackDad

Oh come on the ban will have a neglible effect on children's health

How? Do tell

Originally Posted by SlackDad

There is no denying that smoking is a killer, but I am simply attempting to look at what the facts are about this particular ban and see what the effects are. As I suggetsed earlier and will do so again, leaving aside staff for one moment, which I am aware is an issue, does anybody actually have the evidence or is aware of how much damage a non-smoker actually does to themselves by ,say, going into a pub a few times a week. I mean what are the actual facts here. Have any actual comparative studies been undertaken? Is the effect different/worse than living in a built up area? I would bet that the vast majority of any passive smoking effects are caused by living in a smoky environment rather than visiting a pub a few times a week. These are the issues are they not?

I do not have these figures, as well you know. This doesn't invalidate my argument. You do not have figures to the contrary. However, for those people who live in non-smoking households and yet passively smoke in pubs, the ban will definitely have benefits on their health. You're avoiding the issue once again I feel. How can you acknowlegde that smoking is a killer yet still demand evidence of it?

Here are some facts for you:

Exposure to secondhand smoke at work is estimated to cause the death of more than two employed persons per working day across the UK as a whole (617 deaths a year), including 54 deaths a year in the hospitality industry.

A MORI survey commissioned by ASH found that 80% of respondents favoured a law to require all enclosed workplaces to be smokefree

http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact08.html

The evidence that exposure to other peopleââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s smoke is dangerous to health is now incontrovertible. It has been confirmed by the Governmentââ ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Sir Liam Donaldson (in July 2003) as well as by the heads of all of Britainââ‚à ‚¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s thirteen Royal Colleges of Medicine (in November 2003), and by the Scottish CMO Dr Mac Armstrong (in April 2004). Comprehensive reviews of the effects of passive smoking include reports by the US National Research Council, the US Surgeon General, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the UK Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health. More recent studies include a World Health Organization (WHO) consultation report on Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Child Health, a report by the California Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and a review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Finally, the Governmentââ ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s advisers the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health reported in November 2004 that exposure to secondhand smoke was a serious health risk to non-smokers, increasing their chance of contracting lung cancer and heart disease, in both cases by about a quarter

http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact14.html