Asthma rates and the smoking banRE: [Mpls] On the smoking ban and Porter's

[Michael Atherton]

David Strand wrote: 

> Michael Atherton asks:
> "Not that I don't have sympathy for people with
> asthma, but what is the comparative percentage of
> asthma sufferers who will frequent bars compared to
> the percentage of smokers? "
> 
> I don't know if the following statistics help or not
> but here are some statewide percentages.
> According to the Minnesota Department of Public
> Health's website on asthma, one in 10 Minnesotans
> statewide report having been diagnosed with asthma in
> their lifetime.  7% of Minnesotans 18 or over report
> current asthma.
> 
> One in 8 students in grades 9-11 in rural Minnesota
> report having asthma and asthma rates have been rising
> in the state over the last 20 years particularly among
> children.
> 
> Rates are significantly higher in Minneapolis and St.
> Paul and Minneapolis and St. Paul typically have
> higher death rates from asthma than either suburban
> areas or rural areas.
> 
> According to a more recent report in 2003, some
> schools in the Minneapolis Public School District have
> asthma rates in their student population as high as
> 20% with a city wide average of 12% of students
> currently sufferring from asthma(which is close to the
> one in eight figure found statewide in 2000). 
> 
> Women are nearly twice as likely to suffer from asthma
> as men.
> 
> In 2002, 91 Minnesotans died from asthma.
>  
> 
> So, potentially, one in 10 people who would like to go
> out to a bar on any given night suffer from asthma and
> as many as one in eight to one in five children may
> suffer from asthma if a family is going out to an
> event or for dinner or a snack at a restaurant.
> 
> Asthma is not curable but can be controlled and
> reducing indoor air pollutants can reduce frequency
> and severity of asthma attacks.
> 
> Coronary heart disease is also heavily impacted by
> second hand smoke as was demonstrated by a study of
> heart attack rates in Helena, MT after implementation
> of a smoking ban for six months in 2002.  The study
> found that the number of heart attacks in the city
> fell by 40% compared to the average for the five
> previous years for the same six month period.
> 
> http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3557
> 
> A reduction of 40% percent in the number of heart
> attacks in the twin cities would save all of us alot
> of public and private healthcare dollars and I think
> the interest in public health.  It will be interesting
> to see if we have a slowdown in healthcare inflation
> in the region after the smoking ban has been in place
> for a little while.

I won't dispute these statistics, I see no need to.
These statistics simply support an argument that 
there is sufficient market demand for smoke-free bars
and restaurants.

Years ago I got into an argument about why there
were so few movies that accurately portrayed Asian
Americans.  My advice was that Asian Americans should
produce their own films.  I'm not egoistical enough
to think that it was *my* advice, but it was a good
idea and some people have followed up on it.  If you
haven't seen it, a good example is Picture Bride:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114129/

Back to the point, I don't see anything that would
prevent people with health problems who are negatively
impacted by secondhand smoke opening their own businesses.
And, I don't see any reason they can't allow smokers
to have some public establishments where they can smoke.

[snip]

> For most peanut allergy sufferers, avoiding things
> with peanuts in them is sufficient, but if your child
> brings home a letter asking that they not bring peanut
> butter sandwiches or other peanut products with them
> into the classroom due to a child in the classroom
> with a severe peanut allergy, I'd reccomend taking it
> very seriously.

Well, I'm not going to go sneaking peanuts into the
pockets of my kids clothes, even if I do love babies
and razor blade jokes. ;-)

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park