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Welsh environmental health report:

Air quality noticeably improved since smoking ban

Results from studies of air quality carried out by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in Wales before and after the smoking ban came into force, suggest that there has been 'a marked improvement' in air quality, reports the Welsh Assembly Government.

Support for the ban is also believed to have increased to have increased to 80 per cent, according to a recent survey, compared with 71 per cent of those polled in February 2006.

The rise in the minimum age from 16 to 18 for buying tobacco products is also expected to make an impression on these figures. According to the chief medical officer for Wales, Dr Tony Jewell, the ban, ”should, over time, dramatically improve the health of the people of Wales. The ban aimed to protect those workers who were suffering the deadly effects of second–hand smoke, but it was also hoped that the ban may encourage more smokers to decide to give up,” he said.

A reduction of 400 in the annual number of premature deaths among smokers is Dr Jewell’s current estimate, and for further details on the survey results on the ban in Wales, visit the Wales NHS website at: www.wales.nhs.uk.

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