London (Reuters) – bans smoking in offices, restaurants and other public places do not lead to smokers to light more cigarettes at home, but that in fact compel them apply extra restrictions on the habit, according to a European study.
Research, published on Tuesday and conducted in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Holland, revealed that a significant number of smokers also decided to prohibit smoking in their own homes after the introduction of the “smoke-free” laws public.
Some restrictions on smoking in workplaces and public opponents argued that anti-smoking laws would lead to a displacement of the habit into the homes of smokers, which could increase the exposure of non-smokers–especially children–to second hand smoke.
But Ute Mons of the German Cancer Research Center and the downtown cancer prevention unit of the Tobacco Control in Heidelberg – partner of the World Health Organization (who) – and whose work was published in the journal Tobacco Control, said that their findings suggested otherwise.
“Our findings demonstrate that smoke-free law would stimulate smokers to complete bans smoking in their homes,” wrote the expert study.
Smoking causes lung cancer, which tends to be lethal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. Is also one of the main factors of cardiovascular disease responsible for the largest number of deaths in the world.
Who warned last year that tobacco would cause the death of almost 6 million people in 2011, including 360,000 non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke. It is feared that the annual death rate increased to 8 million by 2030.
The study published on Tuesday was based on two surveys carried out in 2003/4 and 2008/9 more than 4,360 smokers of the four countries with legislation tobacco, in addition to 1,080 smokers in Britain that served as a comparison at a time that did not have smoke-free rules.
Before that laws entering into force, the majority of smokers had at least partial at home smoking restrictions, although the proportions varying widely between the four countries with the highest levels of home limitation in Germany and France, found researchers.
But after the smoke-free legislation came into force, the percentage of smokers banning smoking in the home climbed 25 percent in Ireland, 17 percent in France, 38 per cent in Germany and a 28 percent in the Netherlands, showed the study.
Home smoking bans were taken more where the smoker was planning to quit, when occurred the birth of a baby and when the smoker was someone who openly supported the restriction of smoking in bars.
In terms of raw data, the percentage of smokers in Britain, which launched domestic bans tobacco also climbed 22 percent between both polls. The second survey was conducted just a few months before the entry into force the British ban tobacco.
However, after take account of factors that could cause confusion, as the demographics and history of smoking, the researchers found that the percentage of smokers banning smoking at home had grown significantly in France, Germany, Netherlands and Ireland, but not too United Kingdom.
(Published in Spanish by Ana Laura Mitidieri)
