Dec 28, 2007 4:58 pm US/Central
Smoke-Free Illinois Could Save Money And Lives
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
On January 1, the entire state of Illinois goes smoke-free.
While opponents believe the ban will hurt business, those in favor, say it will save lives. CBS 2 Medical Editor Mary Ann Childers reports on the potential impact on Illinois from the vantage point of states that have been smoke-free for years.
Gwen Pippin has made a living for the past 25 years playing piano and singing in bars. She didn't smoke, but a lot of people around her did.
"Working in an area where there's a lot of smoking going on -- it's like a half a pack a day," Pippin said. "So I was taking in a half a pack a day of smoke."
One day, four years ago, that exposure to secondhand smoke finally took its toll.
"They found a grapefruit sized mass shape of a football and it had attached itself to a kidney," Pippin said.
The CDC estimates 3,400 non-smokers lose their lives to lung cancer every year. Another 69,000 die from heart disease.
"This is going to be a tremendous gain for public health," said Joel Africk, president of the Respiratory Health Association.
Africk says in California, where a total smoking ban has been in place since 1998, lung cancer rates have dropped 19 percent. In New York, where smoking has been banned in public places since 2003, hospital admissions for heart attacks have dropped eight percent and 15 percent fewer people are lighting up.
"In Illinois where 2 million people smoke that's the same as 300,000 people quitting which is a great way to start the year," Africk said.
Africk says those gains translate into at least a $50 million a year savings on healthcare costs for New York. Businesses might benefit as well. Pippin says there are already several smoke-free nights in the club where she works.
"It's a wonderful thing. It hasn't stopped business at all," she said.
Chicago has a smoking ban in many indoor public places, but some, such as restaurant bars and taverns were given until July 1, 2008 to comply.
Under the state law, every business must comply starting Jan. 1. The only exception: businesses that sell tobacco products as their main item, such as cigar stores with smoking areas.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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