No-smoking policies in restaurants and bars don't harm businessFebruary 21, 2003No-smoking policies in restaurants and bars don't harm business, despite concerted efforts by the tobacco industry to prove otherwise, shows a study in Tobacco Control. The studies claiming that bars and restaurants lose money when smoking bans are imposed, are biased and of poor quality, the study shows. The researchers trawled online databases and print references for all studies produced on the economic impact of smoking bans in bars and restaurants up to the end of August 2002. They included unpublished tobacco industry research, and in total, assessed the findings of 97 studies. The quality of the studies concluding that smoking bans adversely affected revenues, was poor, the authors found. These studies were four times as likely to use subjective rather than objective measures to estimate impact, and they were 20 times as likely not to be peer reviewed. Furthermore, none of the "negative" studies was funded by sources that were clearly independent of the tobacco industry. Only one of the 31 industry funded studies had been published in a peer reviewed journal compared with almost 40% of those funded from other sources. And none of the industry studies met all the accepted criteria for quality, compared with over a third (35%) of those funded from other sources. None of the 21quality studies reported a negative impact. In fact, four reported that bans had a positive effect on sales. On the basis of the quality of the evidence, fears that smoking bans in bars and restaurants eat into revenues are unfounded, say the authors. And policy makers wishing to reduce exposure of employees and patrons to the dangers of second-hand tobacco smoke should be reassured by these findings, say the authors. British Medical Journal (BMJ) |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Smoking Current Events and Smoking News Articles Research reveals exactly how coughing is triggered by environmental irritants Scientists have revealed how environmental irritants such as air pollution and cigarette smoke cause people to cough, in research published today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Women Can Quit Smoking and Control Weight Gain Many women don't quit smoking because they are afraid of gaining weight. That's because nicotine suppresses the appetite and boosts a smoker's metabolism. Cigarettes Harbor Many Bacteria Harmful to Human Health Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France. Study raises concerns about outdoor second-hand smoke Indoor smoking bans have forced smokers at bars and restaurants onto outdoor patios, but a new University of Georgia study in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that these outdoor smoking areas might be creating a new health hazard. Early end to key study on benefits of niacin, a B vitamin, in keeping arteries open was premature Heart experts at Johns Hopkins are calling premature the early halt of a study by researchers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center on the benefits of combining extended-release niacin, a B vitamin, with cholesterol-lowering statin medications to prevent blood vessel narrowing. Athletes on performance enhancers more likely to abuse alcohol, other drugs College athletes who use performance-enhancing substances may be at heightened risk of misusing alcohol and using recreational drugs as well, according to new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. 90 percent of Africans are not protected by smoke-free laws As African nations are poised to undergo the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries, nearly 90 percent of people on the continent remain without meaningful protection from secondhand smoke, according to a new report released at a regional cancer conference today. Workplace BPA exposure increases risk of male sexual dysfunction High levels of workplace exposure to Bisphenol-A may increase the risk of reduced sexual function in men, according to a Kaiser Permanente study appearing in the journal Human Reproduction, published by Oxford Journals. Exposure to several common infections over time may be associated with risk of stroke Cumulative exposure to five common infection-causing pathogens may be associated with an increased risk of stroke, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the January 2010 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Carnegie Mellon researchers link health-care debate to risk of dying in US and Europe The current health care debate in the United States is complicated. Trade-offs between heath care expenditures, lifestyle choices and life expectancy have been suggested but seldom clearly demonstrated. More Smoking Current Events and Smoking News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||