A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization
Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
| Home | Search | About ASH | Why Join | Comment | Email page |
|
Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
|
Excerpts from: Passive smoking survey shock
U TV.com [02/24/05]
Someone dancing in a nightclub for four hours is exposed to as much second-hand smoke as a person living with a smoker for a month, researchers said today.
The researchers found that even in areas where smoking was barred, lower concentrations of nicotine were present.
Writing in the journal Tobacco Control, they said the results suggested that policies of having smoking and non-smoking areas were not completely effective.
Many countries, including the Republic of Ireland, have banned smoking in enclosed public places in efforts to protect the public from passive smoking.
Smoking will also be banned in the majority of public places in England in the coming years, with pubs and bars not serving food exempt from the changes announced in the Public Health White Paper last year.
But many in the industry have claimed that voluntary measures, such as providing smoke-free areas, better ventilation and banning smoking at the bar, are adequate to protect the rights of both smokers and non-smokers.
The latest study, involving researchers in Spain, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Greece, France, Portugal, France, the UK and US, found that tobacco smoke was present in most of the public places they looked at.
The researchers measured levels of environmental tobacco smoke in Vienna, Paris, Athens, Florence, Oporto in Portugal, Barcelona and Orebro in Sweden.
Measuring equipment was placed in airports, train stations, schools, universities, hospitals, restaurants and nightclubs.
The highest nicotine concentrations were found in bars and discos, followed by restaurants.
The researchers said: "It is worth noting that in Vienna, Paris and Florence the concentrations in parts of the restaurant where smoking was not allowed were not dissimilar to concentrations in areas where smoking was allowed."
They also said that in train stations and airports most of the areas that were tested had smoking restrictions, but despite this there were still appreciable concentrations of nicotine.
"Nicotine was also found in schools and universities, particularly in Barcelona, and again the concentrations in non-smoking areas were somewhat similar to those in areas where smoking was allowed," the researchers said.
Schools, where smoking was only permitted in staff rooms, tended to have the lowest nicotine concentrations, along with hospitals.
The researchers concluded: "Although there is some variability between cities, this study shows that tobacco smoke is present in most public places.
"The study also showed that in areas where smoking is prohibited, concentrations of nicotine are lower than in areas where smoking is allowed but they are not zero; evidence of tobacco smoke could still be found.
"This suggested that policies of having separate smoking and non-smoking areas are not completely effective."
The researchers pointed out that nicotine concentrations in bars and discos were very high.
"A person dancing for four hours in a disco with the median concentration found in cities like Vienna or Barcelona is exposed to a similar amount of tobacco smoke as someone living with a smoker for a month," they said.
Another study, also published in Tobacco Control, concluded that smokers engaged in "risk minimisation" by convincing themselves that they were not as much at risk of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer as other smokers.
The research involving more than 6,000 smokers and non-smokers in the US also found that smokers believed myths about how to minimise the effects of tobacco.
More than half (51.7%) mistakenly believed that exercise could reverse most of the effects of smoking, while 28% had faith that vitamins could undo most of the effects of tobacco.
Many smokers also did not make any connection between the number of cigarettes smoked and an increased risk of cancer.
| Home Web Page | Search This Site | Learn About ASH | Why Join ASH | Comment on This | Email This Page |