Colin McCord, who helped enforce a smoking ban, dies at 94
The indoor ban, in New York, was just one public health achievement. His global efforts on behalf of women and children have saved countless lives.
Dr. Colin McCord, a surgeon credited with saving countless lives by championing a draconian New York smoking ban and limits on trans fats in processed foods, galvanizing improved health care for black men in Harlem and improving maternal and child health around the world, died March 11 at his home in Oxford, England. He was 94 years old.
His son, Andy, said the cause was congestive heart failure.
Dr. McCord, known as Coke, trained lay people as paraprofessional physicians and surgeons in Mozambique and other African countries decimated by the departure of medical personnel; proven the effectiveness of oral rehydration in saving infants with diarrhea in India and Bangladesh; and helped reduce birth rates in Bangladesh by teaching women to counsel on contraception and reproductive health. These international initiatives likely saved millions of lives.
He also had a profound impact on public conduct and health policy in New York.
Dr. McCord successfully lobbied for a smoking ban in workplaces, restaurants and bars while serving as assistant health commissioner in Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration. The ban, which went into effect in 2003, was later expanded and replicated in jurisdictions around the world.
New York had banned smoking in most restaurants in 1995, but the city has gone on to allow smoking in bars and restaurant bars. As the son of chain smokers who both died of cancer, Dr. McCord has described himself as "the biggest second-hand smoker in New York City".
"This is the biggest epidemic of our time," he said in 2002, when the ban was extended to include bars. death certificates for 10,000 New Yorkers who died from a tobacco-related cause; 1,000 of those people died from exposure to second-hand smoke. McCord sat next to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2002 when the mayor signed a law banning smoking in New York bars.>Years earlier, Dr. authority that black men in Harlem were less likely to live to age 65 than men in Bangladesh, which was one of the poorest countries in the world when it was established in 1971.
The report didn't just cause a stir; it also produced results.
Dr. McCord was appointed director of a federally funded prevention program at Harlem Hospital, a division of the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation. Programs have been launched, as recommended by the report, to address known causes of early death from chronic diseases, including breast cancer screenings and neonatal testing. And investments have been made to improve health care delivery in an overwhelmed system.
Dr. McCord and Dr. Harold P. Freeman of Columbia University and Harlem Hospital, with whom he created the report, concluded that...
The indoor ban, in New York, was just one public health achievement. His global efforts on behalf of women and children have saved countless lives.
Dr. Colin McCord, a surgeon credited with saving countless lives by championing a draconian New York smoking ban and limits on trans fats in processed foods, galvanizing improved health care for black men in Harlem and improving maternal and child health around the world, died March 11 at his home in Oxford, England. He was 94 years old.
His son, Andy, said the cause was congestive heart failure.
Dr. McCord, known as Coke, trained lay people as paraprofessional physicians and surgeons in Mozambique and other African countries decimated by the departure of medical personnel; proven the effectiveness of oral rehydration in saving infants with diarrhea in India and Bangladesh; and helped reduce birth rates in Bangladesh by teaching women to counsel on contraception and reproductive health. These international initiatives likely saved millions of lives.
He also had a profound impact on public conduct and health policy in New York.
Dr. McCord successfully lobbied for a smoking ban in workplaces, restaurants and bars while serving as assistant health commissioner in Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration. The ban, which went into effect in 2003, was later expanded and replicated in jurisdictions around the world.
New York had banned smoking in most restaurants in 1995, but the city has gone on to allow smoking in bars and restaurant bars. As the son of chain smokers who both died of cancer, Dr. McCord has described himself as "the biggest second-hand smoker in New York City".
"This is the biggest epidemic of our time," he said in 2002, when the ban was extended to include bars. death certificates for 10,000 New Yorkers who died from a tobacco-related cause; 1,000 of those people died from exposure to second-hand smoke. McCord sat next to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2002 when the mayor signed a law banning smoking in New York bars.>Years earlier, Dr. authority that black men in Harlem were less likely to live to age 65 than men in Bangladesh, which was one of the poorest countries in the world when it was established in 1971.
The report didn't just cause a stir; it also produced results.
Dr. McCord was appointed director of a federally funded prevention program at Harlem Hospital, a division of the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation. Programs have been launched, as recommended by the report, to address known causes of early death from chronic diseases, including breast cancer screenings and neonatal testing. And investments have been made to improve health care delivery in an overwhelmed system.
Dr. McCord and Dr. Harold P. Freeman of Columbia University and Harlem Hospital, with whom he created the report, concluded that...
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