375 ISSN 1473-7167 © 2011 Expert Reviews Ltd www.expert-reviews.com Editorial 10.1586/ERP.11.35 Have public smoking bans resulted in an improvement in quality of life? “To date, strong evidence clearly demonstrates the beneicial health effects of comprehensive public smoke-free legislation. No negative economic impact resulting from the introduction of smoke-free policies was found in a report that reviewed 97 studies of restaurants and bars that used objective measures and appropriate statistical methodologies. ” The gung-ho movement towards a smoke- free society hogged global media attention when Ireland went smoke-free in March 2004 [1] . This bold tobacco control ini- tiative had a ripple effect, especially in Europe, where many countries followed suit. The spirit and enthusiasm among tobacco control advocates are now at an all- time high. The 2011 European Conference on Tobacco or Health in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, was a witness to the enthu- siasm. Unfortunately, the East–West gap of smoking rates in Europe is nevertheless widening [101] . North American countries, by contrast, have been trendsetters in tobacco control. The current adult smok- ing rate of 12% in the state of California clearly indicates the potential of compre- hensive tobacco control strategies in the long term [102] . However, the global status of tobacco control is less rosy. A total of 70% of tobacco-related premature deaths are pro- jected to occur in developing countries by year 2030 [2] . Of the 1 billion smokers cur- rently worldwide, half will eventually die prematurely if they do not quit [2] . This staggering igure should certa inly sup- port the clarion call to ight tooth and nail against the only product that, when consumed as marketed, is bound to cause only misery and death. Is enough being done? Sadly, no. Only 5% of the global population is currently protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws [3] . “Tobacco control should be advanced as an important health development strategy in order to achieve overall health gains... ” Various countries are in different stages of the tobacco epidemic. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the irst international public health treaty, charted a course for halting the epidemic [103] . To date, 172 countries worldwide have rati- ied this treaty. Legislated comprehensive smoke-free policies are one of the six proven tobacco control strategies in the WHO Monitor, Protect, Offer, Warn, Enforce, Raise (MPOWER) package, and these policies are a step in the right direction, especially for tobacco control in develop- ing nations [104] . The six MPOWER strat- egies are effective if fully implemented and enforced, although one size does not it all. To date, strong evidence clearly dem- onstrates the beneicial health effects of comprehensive public smoke-free legisla- tion [2,4] . No negative economic impact resulting from the introduction of smoke- free policies was found in a report that Expert Rev. Pharmacoeconomics Outcomes Res. 11(4), 375–377 (2011) KEYWORDS: childhood secondhand smoke • Framework Convention on Tobacco Control • inequality • smoke-free home • smoking ban Zubair Kabir Author for correspondence TobaccoFree Research Institute, The Digital Depot, Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland zkabir@tri.ie Monika Arora Public Health Foundation of India, PHD House, Second Floor, 4/2, Sirifort Institutional Area, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi, India Hillel R Alpert Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Global Tobacco Control, Landmark Center, Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA For reprint orders, please contact reprints@expert-reviews.com