Smoking Ban Reduces Smoke! Who Knew?

Here’s a shocker: the city’s [smoking ban] really does reduce New Yorkers’ exposure to secondhand smoke. And it’s not just here, it’s the whole darn state that’s boasting pinker lungs. A study released yesterday reveals that nonsmokers are being exposed to only about half the secondhand smoke they inhaled prior to the state’s anti-smoking regulations went into effect four years ago. Researchers with the Centers for Disease Control[ tested 1,600 nonsmokers](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=71837) for nicotine byproducts, like cotinine, before and after the July 2003 ban. And voila: the “after” tests showed a 47-percent decrease in those pesky chemicals, and the number of people whose level of cotinine was below the detectable level[ rose to 52 percent ](http://www.nypost.com/seven/07202007/news/regionalnews/cig_crackdown_gives_nyers_breath_of_fresh_air_regionalnews_andy_soltis.htm)from 32 percent. Such encouraging news, and yet somehow Big Tobacco still has a job. It must be those awesome camels that people can’t resist.