Smoking has major implications on our health and our risk of heart disease, but what about passive smoking?

I was interested to read recently about what could be termed a natural experiment. A small town in the US banned smoking in public areas and workplaces. The policy only lasted six months because of pro-tobacco people overturn the law. However during the six months, the local hospital experienced a major downturn in the incidence of heart attacks. However, as soon as it then was removed the number of heart attacks jumped back up.

This is not solid scientific evidence, but it does make you question the impact our environment has on our health. Unfortunately we are not always in control of our environment.

We are obviously doing quite well in Australia as most indoor environments are now smoke-free. However perhaps we need to go further and have regulations implemented to ensure a smoke-free area of 10 or 20 m around doors into our workplaces and buildings.