Health Effects
According to the latest studies, the risks of smoking are greater than we thought. This includes not only known risks such as lung and esophageal cancer but also less well-known conditions such as leukemia and cataracts. According to Michele Late (2004), smoking affects all organs of the body and confirms that “Smoking causes diseases in almost every organ of the human body” (Late, 2004). Late stressed that the toxic effects include everything that reaches the blood: “The toxins from cigarette smoke can go everywhere the blood flows” (Late, 2004). A study conducted by the city of Saskatchewan showed positive effects on public health. According to the study, the majority of residents reported positive health effects after the ban. 46% of the population said the impact was positive, and 16% spoke of a strong positive impact. Hospital admissions for myocardial infarction decreased by 10%. The smoking rate among Saskatchewan residents was 24% a year before the smoking ban, but a year after the ban, the rate became 19.4%, indicating a 4.7% decrease in smoking prevalence. Based on a 2006 City of Saskatchewan poll, 63% of employees reported that working in restaurants and nightclubs had a positive impact on their health. Additionally, when comparing the period between July 2000–June 2004 with July 2004–June 2005, the number of heart attacks decreased by 10%. Smoking is a known risk factor for accelerating the deterioration of lung function in adults, but quitting smoking reduces the rate of deterioration of forced expiratory volume per second (FEV) to nearly the same rate of decline as in non-smokers. According to Hayashi (2021), the lung health study demonstrated that smoking cessation is the most effective treatment to prevent or reduce chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Participants in the study saw an average improvement in FEV within one year, with an average of 2% for the five-year study. After quitting smoking, the rate of decline in FEV in former smokers was about half that of continuing smokers and similar to the decline seen in non-smokers. According to Hayashi, an 11-year follow-up study showed that participants who quit smoking had a lower rate of lung function decline than continued smokers, with only 10% having an FEV of less than 60% of the expected normal volume compared to those who quit continuously.
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