Smoking ban to be welcomed
I paid a visit to the Kings Head, Mardol, Shrewsbury, on Sunday to have a Sunday lunch and a pint and it was such a pleasure to enjoy a meal without inhaling second-hand smoke.
I left the public house without the disgusting smell of cigarettes on my clothes and not having to wash them straightaway when returning home to get rid of the stench.
Smoking is a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease, says the World Health Organisation. According to its figures, it is responsible for approximately five million deaths worldwide every year.
Tobacco smoking is a known or probable cause of approximately 25 diseases, and even the WHO says that its impact on world health is not fully assessed.
UK studies show that smokers in their 30s and 40s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers.
Tobacco contributes to the hardening of the arteries, which can then become blocked and starve the heart of bloodflow, causing the attack.
Often, smokers who develop this will require complex and risky heart bypass surgery.
If you smoke for a lifetime, there is a 50 per cent chance that your eventual death will be smoking-related.
Another primary health risk associated with smoking is lung cancer, which kills more than 20,000 people in the UK every year. US studies have shown that men who smoke increase their chances of dying from the disease by more than 22 times.
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