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Steven Milloy Debunks Claims That Pueblo's Smoking Ban Helped Decrease Heart Attack Rates

Posted on: Monday, 28 November 2005, 03:02 CST

By Doehrman, Marylou

Heart attack rates in Pueblo have declined significantly since 2003.A group of Colorado health researchers says it's no coincidence that the drop followed a citywide ban on smoking. But the country's No. 1 debunker of junk science - Steven Milloy - said controversy remains over whether mainstream smoking even causes heart disease. The no-smoking ordinance banned smoking in indoor areas open to the public and businesses, including bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, etc. According to a study based on data from January 2002 to December 2004, 399 heart attack patients were admitted to Pueblo's hospitals prior to the inception of the smoke-free ordinance. Following the smoking restriction, 291 heart attack patients were admitted to the city's hospitals.Pueblo is one of only two cities in the nation to study how an indoor smoking ban influences public exposure, in particular heart disease, to second-hand smoke. The effects, related to heart disease, of a non-smoking ordinance in Helena, Mont., were compiled in a 2003 study. Researchers concluded that restrictions on public exposure to second-hand smoke caused a decline in heart attacks. Milloy said the Pueblo and Helena studies are bogus. Dr. Mori Krantz, a cardiologist and the director of prevention programs at the Colorado Prevention Center, led the analysis of the Pueblo data.We already know that tobacco smoke does harm to nonsmokers, most notably to their cardiovascular systems, Krantz said. This study further validates the argument that limiting exposure to deadly tobacco smoke can save lives.Dr. Nick Alsever, an endocrinologist and vice president of medical affairs at Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo; Dr. Carl E. Bartecchi, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; and Dr. Christine Nevin-Woods, director of the Pueblo City-County Health Department, concurred with the findings. Nevin-Woods said there is definitely a relationship between smoking ordinances and public health outcomes. But Milloy, the publisher of JunkScience.com and Junk Science Judo: Self Defense Against Health Scares and Scams, said the study methodology used in both research projects was inappropriate for linking banning smoking with fewer heart attacks. Milloy has a bachelor's degree in natural sciences from Johns Hopkins University, where he also received a master of health sciences in biostatistics, a juris doctorate from the University of Baltimore and a master's degree in law from Georgetown University's law center. He has written several books and reports debunking scientific studies that he calls agenda-based.The Helena and Pueblo study are his pet peeves, Milloy said. The Helena study was all about cherry picking. There was no historical context, and it (the decrease in heart attack rates) appeared to be a part of a cyclical pattern, he said.Milloy also said that one of the hospitals included in the Helena study lost its cardiologist, so fewer cardiac patients were sent there. It was a poor study design, he said. There were no patient histories considered, so there was no determination of individual cardiovascular risk profiles or the actual cause of observed heart attacks in individuals. There was not enough historical date to compare. No doubt heart attack rates vary through time.It's a lousy analysis with no biological plausibility - a crude statistical study. I am not saying we shouldn't look into this, but we shouldn't be drawing conclusions from this. It's junk science. Dan Ponder, an associate professor of political science who teaches statistics at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, said Milloy is right about the study's lack of history. I'd like to see data from the last 10 years, Ponder said. They just studied this for a year and a half, and the conclusions could be coincidental or caused by other factors. He likened the Pueblo study to one that had been done in the 1950s in Connecticut about a seat belt ordinance. A year-to-year comparison following implementation of the ordinance concluded that it was responsible for a significant decline in vehicular fatalities. However, Ponder said, data also showed that the year prior was a record year for ice on the road. Nevin-Woods maintains that the science is there. Second-hand smoke affects the aorta, activates the platelets, affects the coronary arteries and their ability to dilate, disrupts the heart rhythm and the heart races when exposed, she said. This is all documented information. Dr. Stephen Telatnik, the medical director for Memorial Hospital's respiratory therapy department and a private practice pulmonologist, agrees. I see patients with obstructive lung disease who have never smoked a day in their lives, but they've grown up with a smoker, Telatnik said. And there is an added risk for coronary heart disease. There is plenty of literature that substantiates the case for second-hand smoke. Some business owners in Pueblo were concerned about the affect the smoking ban would have on their livelihoods and campaigned against the ordinance, said Rod Slyhoff, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. From our observation, the small taverns - venues that don't specialize in food - felt a bigger impact, Slyhoff said.He said the Green Light Tavern's business is off 30 to 40 percent and the staff has decreased from four to five employees to two. But they just got a permit to build a sidewalk cafe on the side of the building. Slyhoff said a few neighborhood bar owners - those most affected by the ordinance - have built patio areas to mitigate their losses. He, too, questioned the lack of history behind the study. But Nevin- Woods stands firm in her belief that second-hand smoke is the smoking gun behind the decrease in heart attacks. Smoking is the leading cause of death, and it's preventable, Nevin-Woods said. It's a balance between taking people's rights away and disease. What's more important?

(Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires)

Source: Colorado Springs Business Journal, The

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