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Committee Hears Testimony On Statewide Smoking Ban

Detroit Free Press

A former board president of the Central Kentucky American Heart Association says the state needs a smoke-free law to reduce its comparatively high rates of chronic diseases like Cancer and Emphysema.

Dr. Sylvia Cerel-Suhl of Lexington testified today (March 12) before the Kentucky Senate’s Health and Welfare Committee. She says the Bluegrass ranks near the top in the U.S. for citizens who suffer from such illnesses.

She says Kentucky cities that have approved smoke-free laws have seen hospital emergency room visits for heart attacks drop by an average of 17 percent.

“In Lexington, which is our first community in Kentucky to pass that law now over ten years ago, we had a twenty-two percent drop in that first year alone in ER visits for heart attacks.” –Sylvia Cerel-Suhl

Dr. Cerel-Suhl says a thousand Kentuckians die annually from second-hand smoke.

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