Occupational Diseases: Ireland's Smoking Ban Cut Pub Toxins

A new study indicates that Ireland's workplace smoking ban has led to 83 percent less air pollution and 80 percent fewer airborne carcinogens. Additionally, better respiratory health has been reported in pub workers. The one-year long study looked at 42 pubs in Dublin and 73 male pub workers who were given lung function tests both before and after the smoking ban was implemented on March 29, 2004. Before the ban, pub workers said they were exposed to secondhand smoke more than 40 hours a week; now they only are exposed to secondhand smoke for about 25 minutes a week.

Ireland's Smoking Ban Cut Pub Toxins Dramatically

If all European countries were to implement similar smoking bans, 5 to 10 million premature deaths from smoking could be prevented over the next generation, predicted Fiona Godfrey, a European Union Policy Adviser at the European Respiratory Society in Brussels. Godfrey added that, "The article ... adds to the evidence from other studies that what smoke-free advocates have said all along is true: Comprehensive smoking bans in bars dramatically reduce the levels of fine-particulate matters, chemicals and gases in the air, and improve bar workers' health."