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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Expert Casts Doubts on Air Purifiers to Rid Bars of Secondhand Smoke [03/17-1]
Excerpts from: Doubts cast on clean-air claims
By
JAMES M. ODATO Albany Times Union [03/16/04]
It would take a tornado to clear a bar of the pollutants in cigarette smoke, a health physicist consulting for several nations said Monday.
James Repace, an expert on secondhand smoke, told Assembly members that purification technology will never be able to remove the contaminants generated by burning cigarettes.
To cut contamination to safe levels, a bar would need a machine "comparable to a tornado" that produces 100,000 air changes per hour, Repace said.
Repace worked for 30 years with the federal government as a research physicist for the Navy, Occupational Safety & Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency. Now retired, he consults with governments proposing smoking bans. The American Cancer Society paid Repace to come to Albany to help in the fight against proposed amendments to the state's 8-month-old ban on workplace smoking. The changes would exempt bars that install state-approved purification devices.
Makers of such systems have conducted demonstrations for lawmakers. The manufacturers have been aided by lobbyists with the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association and New York Nightlife Association.
On Monday, one manufacturer, FailSafe Air Safety Systems of Tonawanda, claimed it can install machines that can rid bars of more than 99 percent of pollutants. The company's products are used by military and hospital customers to protect people from germs and chemicals. Erie County officials approved FailSafe's machines two years ago -- before the ban -- as an alternative to setting up smoking rooms.
The debate on whether purification devices can protect people from secondhand smoke comes as lawmakers are considering a bill introduced this month by Sen. Ray Meier, R-Utica. Meier said he wants to help bar owners who complain their businesses are hurting because they can't allow customers to smoke.
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