|
 |
National antismoking legislation works
Source: (cancerfacts.com)
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
HELSINKI – Dec. 22, 2004 – National tobacco control legislation that places stringent limitations on tobacco use and marketing can reduce nationwide smoking and smoking-related diseases, a new study shows.
A research team led by Dr. Kari Reijula, director of the Regional Institute of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, looked at the 28-year experience of tobacco use in Finland since the Tobacco Act of 1976. The law banned tobacco advertising, restricted smoking on public premises, prohibited tobacco sales to minors, placed health warnings on packages, and allocated 0.5 percent of taxes from tobacco sales to be used for smoking prevention. The study appeared in the December issue of CHEST.
"Daily smoking prevalence among men decreased continuously from 58 percent to 28 percent in the period from 1960 to 2000," the researchers wrote. "Between 1965 and 1971, male lung cancer incidence was still on the increase, but from 1971 it decreased from 80 to 32 per 100,000 men. The male respiratory disease mortality rate declined steeply during the study period."
The researchers analyzed and compared nationwide smoking prevalence rates from 1960 to 2000, and analyzed the respiratory disease rates from 1980 to 1998. In addition to the steep decline in cancer, respiratory disease rates significantly declined as well.
The smoking rate of women, which had increased from 12 percent to 20 percent from 1960 to 1973, leveled off at approximately 20 percent following the passage of the legislation. Their smoke-related deaths, however, have decreased since the 1980s.
Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 NexCura, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of cancerfacts.com content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of NexCura. NexCura® is a registered trademark and cancerfacts.com™ is a trademark of NexCura, Inc. or its affiliates. Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. All rights reserved. This information is for educational purposes only.
|
|
|
|
|
|
