WHO urges countries to adopt smoking bans

LONDON (Reuters) - Smoking bans are an effective way of preventing heart disease, getting cigarette users to quit and protecting children from second-hand smoke, a World Health Organization (WHO) report issued on Monday said.

The report by scientists at the WHO's International Agency for Cancer Research urged more countries to adopt smoking bans in public and at the workplace, saying there was enough evidence to prove they work, without hurting businesses such as restaurants and bars.

"Implementation of such policies can have a broader population effect of increasing smoke-free environments," the researchers wrote in the Lancet Oncology special report.

"Not only do these policies achieve their aim of protecting the health of non-smokers by decreasing exposure to second-hand smoke, they also have many effects on smoking behavior, which compound the health benefits."

Many local and national governments, mainly in Western nations, have enacted varying types of smoking bans in recent years to protect people from second-hand smoke.

A separate report issued by Cancer Research UK on Monday found England's ban adopted a year ago has spurred more smokers than ever to kick the habit, and predicted the restrictions would prevent 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years.

The researchers involved in the WHO report -- who included John Pierce of the University of California, San Diego, and Maria Leon at the International Agency for Cancer Research --- reviewed more than 900 studies and government reports looking at the impact of smoking bans across the world.

They cited studies that suggest smoke-free workplaces have lead to a 10 to 20 percent decrease in hospital admissions for heart disease a year after a smoking ban.

The WHO says smoking kills about four million people each year, causing a quarter of deaths related to heart disease.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Caroline Drees)