Ireland: smoking ban has saved thousands of lives. Allegedly.
Reports in Ireland suggest that almost 4,000 lives have been saved by the introduction of the smoking ban in 2004.
You can find the study here: Reductions in Cardiovascular, Cerebrovascular, and Respiratory Mortality following the National Irish Smoking Ban: Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.
I haven't read it yet so I'd better not rush to judgement. Then again, we've been here before. Remember The myth of the smoking ban ‘miracle’ (Chris Snowdon)?
Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to read this latest report in advance let alone comment so there's little balance in Irish media reports.
By chance, however, Forest Eireann has today released details of our Road to Prohibition Tour which begins in Cork on Wednesday May 15 and winds up in Dublin on May 28-29.
More info to follow. If you live in Ireland and would like to meet John en route I'm sure he'll be delighted to see a friendly face!
Quick off the mark, Chris Snowdon writes:
Another smoking ban miracle, this time from Ireland and this time not limited only to heart attacks but to, well, nearly everything ...
Step forward Luke Clancy, currently of the Tobacco Free Research Institute, previously the chairman of ASH Ireland and the lead figure in campaigning for the smoking ban back in 2003. What better man to mark his own homework ...
After a spin round the statistics, Chris concludes:
In the end, Clancy et al.
resort toapply the statisticaltrickmethod of simply guessing how much higher rates of disease might have been if Clancy hadn't succeeded in getting the Irish government to ban smoking in 'public' places.
In the absence of a national smoking ban, an estimated 3,726 (95% CI: 2,305–4,629) additional smoking-related deaths would have occurred.
With that bit of 'science' completed all that remains is to type out the study, issue the press release and wait for the media to announce ...
All in a day's work for tobacco control.
See: The Irish smoking ban miracle (Velvet Glove Iron Fist)