A new study has linked smoking ban to drop in stillbirths and newborn deaths.
The University of Edinburgh findings add to growing evidence that anti-smoking laws have had significant benefits for infant and child health.
In the study, researchers looked at information on more than ten million births in England between 1995 and 2011.
Their findings suggested that almost 1500 stillbirths and newborn deaths were averted in the first four years after the law to prohibit smoking in public places was introduced.
More than five thousand fewer babies were born with a low birth weight of less than two and a half kilograms the researchers estimate.
Researcher Jasper Been said that around 18 percent of the world’s population was protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws.
Been said that accelerated actions to implement smoking bans in many countries was likely to save considerable numbers of young lives and bring a healthier future for our unborn children.
Researcher Aziz Sheikh said that the study was further evidence of the potential power of smoke-free legislation to protect present and future generations from the devastating health consequences of smoking and second hand exposure to tobacco smoke.
The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
