Serious Questions Need Answering in Scotland

2008-11-29 16:54:50 -

Figures released by the Scottish Government have revealed that emergency hospital admissions for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) have risen sharply during the second year of the smoking ban.

Professor Jill Pell had previously claimed that admissions for heart attacks had reduced by 17% in the first year of the ban, and attributed this entire reduction to the legislation. The official statistics (now released) clearly show that the decline in the first year of the ban was only 7.2%, with the rate rising by 7.8% in the second year. (1)

Pro-choice group Freedom2Choose had previously warned of the unreliability of the Pell study on numerous occasions, which had even been debunked in a report for the BBC. (2)

Colin Grainger, vice-chairman of Freedom2Choose states, 'Professor Jill Pell has some serious questions to answer. She portrayed heart attacks as being down by 17% in the first year of the smoker ban, which clearly is not the case. Her report and findings are still being used throughout the world to promote and justify smoking bans which is unethical. There never was a 17% reduction.'

From the data provided, a previously declining trend in admissions for ACS has been reversed since the introduction of the smoking ban.

1 ISD Scotland
2 BBC Report