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Smoking-Related Mortalities Drop

Fewer New Yorkers are dying from smoking-related illness these days, thanks in large part to stricter laws banning smoking from public places.

The city recently reported a 10 percent drop in smoking-related deaths – roughly 800 fewer deaths per year – following a significant decrease in the number of New Yorkers lighting up on a regular basis.

After Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2001, he hiked the city’s cigarette tax (as did the state) and extended the city’s smoking ban to include bars. Then he gave away nicotine patch kits to thousands of city residents to help them kick the habit. Roughly 200,000 of them did, which health experts directly credit with the drop in smoking-related fatalities.

Within a year of quitting, a person’s risk of developing heart disease drops by half, experts say. So those results can be seen immediately. But the numbers should continue to improve over time, since decreases in smoking-related cancer deaths won’t show up for about 12 years. Another benefit? The number of deaths and illnesses from second-hand smoke should also decrease over time.

For more information about this story, read the article in the NY Times.     

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org