February 4, 2016

have national smoking bans worked in reducing harms in passive smoking?

Passive smoking has long been known to pose a health risk to non-smokers, and efforts to reduce levels of second-hand smoke have seen bans on indoor smoking in public and work places introduced in a number of countries, states, and regions.

A previous Cochrane Review in 2010 examined whether these smoking bans had actually reduced the levels of smoke in public places, and now an updated review has looked at evidence into the effects of the bans on passive smoking.

The most robust evidence yet, published in the Cochrane Library, suggests that national smoking legislation does reduce the harms of passive smoking and that populations benefit from reduced exposure to passive smoke.

Journalists came to the SMC to hear from authors of this Cochrane review discuss things like:

• What is the evidence for the harms of passive smoking?
• What is the evidence that reducing smoking in public places does reduce levels of passive smoking?
• How does this impact on the health of non-smokers? Does it affect any specific health conditions?
• Is there any evidence of an effect of these bans on smokers themselves?
• Does the evidence suggest that these strict smoking bans have been worthwhile in reducing the harms of smoking?

Speakers will include:

Dr Kate Frazer: HRB Cochrane Fellow & Lecturer, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin

Toby Lasserson, Cochrane Senior Editor