Britain: Smoking Ban Saves 40,000 Lives
The nationwide smoking ban has triggered the biggest fall in smoking ever seen in England, a report says today. More than two billion fewer cigarettes were smoked and 400,000 people quit the habit since the ban was introduced a year ago, which researchers say will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years. Smoking was outlawed in all enclosed public spaces in England, including pubs and restaurants on 1 July 2007 after a prolonged political battle that split the Government and inflamed critics of Britain as a nanny state.