One of the most damaging vices one can have is smoking. The habit has negative effects not only on the lungs of a smoker, but also on their heart, mouth, teeth, skin, voice and even nails. Second-hand smoking became a huge problem during the past decades, when smoking was not only allowed virtually everywhere, but was also encouraged in movies and some commercials even included slogans such as “9 out of 10 doctors smoke” a certain brand.

Smoking was portrayed as being “cool,” and femme fatales always had a cigarette in one hand a drink in the other. In more recent years, however, smoking has been heavily discouraged by any means possible.

Smoking bans have been in effect for quite some time, and they become stricter every year. In the beginning, non-smoking areas were established in restaurants, and all flights became non-smoking and smoking was completely banned on all planes. Afterwards, smoking was banned in restaurants, malls, airports and very soon – even in bars and nightclubs.

Other places that suffered from the ban were cinemas and hotels. Soon, smoking was banned in all public places and institutions and even some buildings.

Three years after the ban was implemented, hospital admissions for myocardial infarctions registered an astounding drop of 41% as compared to the admission levels registered before the ban. Doctors believe that the drop is mostly due to the significant reduction of second-hand smoking.