While the concept of "health maintenance" seems to be suffering "death by semantic contamination" in the United States, things may be looking better (which is to say, healthier) in Europe. When European Union countries started following the American lead on legislating bans on smoking in public places, the media were quick to flood us with stories of man-in-the-street outrage. Was this a case of governmental paternalism undermining deep-seated cultural values that defined national character; and, if so, why was it defining the "character" of so many nationalities (French, Italian, Irish, etc.)? Well, Net New Publisher has now issued a report of some recent data that assess the impact of such bans. The results seem to indicate that "governmental paternalism" may, indeed, have had a positive impact on public health:
French researchers announced a striking 15% decrease in admissions of patients with myocardial infarction to emergency wards since the public ban on smoking came into effect in restaurants, hotels and casinos in France last January. The announcement was made on 23 February by the National Sanitary Institute. Similar results were published in Italy on 12 February by the Environmental Health Authority: researchers in Rome found an 11.2 percent reduction of acute coronary events since the January 2005 smoking ban took effect in Italy.
Perhaps the punch line of this story is that, if "national character" really matters, it helps to stay alive long enough to exercise (and enjoy) those character traits!
No comments:
Post a Comment