UCSD researcher on team studying smoke-free policies

| Sunday, July 6, 2008 12:16 AM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Research reviewed by an international team of experts called together by the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that smoke-free policies are "extremely effective" in reducing smoking's health hazards.

The findings, to be published online and in the July edition of The Lancet Oncology, are the latest in a series of reviews from the agency's Tobacco and Cancer Team, led by John Pierce, Ph.D., director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center and Maria Leon, DrPH, M.P.H., Tobacco and Cancer Team, Lifestyle, Environment and Cancer Group, IARC, Lyon, France.   

Many states and countries have gone smoke-free in the past five years in response to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, which 168 nations have signed. Although the United States has not yet signed the treaty, California was the first state to go smoke-free more than 10 years ago.

"The report uses California's experience extensively to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of such policies," said Pierce. After review of hundreds of studies, the IARC research group concluded that these policies don't decrease business at restaurants and bars. One area of concern in California is gambling casinos.  

"Again, according to the survey," said Pierce, "over 40 percent of nonsmokers and former smokers who have visited casinos indicated that they would visit more often if these establishments were smoke-free, while over 70 percent of smokers indicated that a smoke-free policy would not make a difference in their casino attendance. Therefore, it is unlikely that smoke-free casinos would lead to a decrease in business activity."

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