At a major international conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, experts from around the world were given concrete proof that public smoking bans are effective when it comes to health benefits.
At the international event, Scottish health officials said that the smoke-free legislation implemented there in March 2006 was already having results in the form of significant health improvements, particularly in those who do not smoke.
It appears that early research has revealed that hospital admissions for heart attacks at nine Scottish hospitals, which account for two-thirds of heart attacks in Scotland, have already fallen dramatically, and heart attacks among non-smokers fell by a fifth.
The smoking ban has also reduced exposure to smoke in the general population, particularly among bar workers, and the ban has had a high level of public support.
Professor Jill Pell, from Glasgow University, revealed that in the ten months before the ban started last year, there were 3,235 admissions for heart attacks to the hospitals studied; but in the same ten-month period following the ban, visits were down to 2,684.
This represents a fall of 17 per cent and the biggest drop was seen in non-smokers, with admissions down 20 per cent from 1,630 to 1,306.
Patients were asked if they were smokers or nonsmokers, and their answers double-checked through blood tests to detect levels of cotinine, the product into which nicotine is converted by the body.
Experts say the drop in exposure to passive smoking means many people are no longer inhaling the dangerous chemicals which were contributing to heart attacks; cigarette smoke causes a fatty build-up in the arteries known as atherosclerosis, which can cause clots to form, leading to heart attacks.
Professor Pell says the smoking ban encourages smokers to reduce smoking or quit altogether; she also says the findings support studies in other countries which have also shown heart attacks fell as a result of smoking bans.