Smoking and Non-Smoking Sections: Separate But Equal
While a bill to ban smoking statewide in most workplaces heads to a vote by the Senate, restaurant industry opponents believe that ventilation and filtration systems can protect patrons and workers from secondhand smoke exposure. However, according to a position paper by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), ventilation and air filtration technologies cannot eliminate the health risks caused by secondhand smoke exposure. ASHRAE maintains that the optimal way of eliminating the health risks associated with secondhand smoke exposure is to ban smoking indoors completely.
Over the past several decades, various strategies have been used to reduce secondhand smoke exposure including separating smokers from nonsmokers, ventilation, air cleaning and filtration, and smoking bans, says Tom Houston, MD, former Director of The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living (TFL) and member of the Societys Environmental Tobacco Smoke Position Document Committee. The statement from ASHRAE affirms indoor smoking bans are the only effective means of protecting non-smokers from the deadly effects of secondhand smoke. There is no safe level of exposure when it comes to secondhand smoke, adds Houston.
Secondhand smoke contains a complex mixture of more than 4,000 chemicals, over 60 of which are known to cause cancer. This helps to explain why air filtration systems cannot effectively eliminate secondhand smoke. According to ASHRAE, such systems cannot significantly diminish, or adequately control, the health risks associated with secondhand smoke exposure. This is often the case in restaurants and bars with designated smoking and non-smoking sections, in addition to buildings where smoking is restricted to specific rooms, or private homes.
Lawrence Schoen, P.E., an engineer and longtime member of the ASHRAE committee responsible for the position document says, There has been a lot of confusion about what ventilation and air cleaning can and cannot do in smoking rooms. While good application of engineering measures can improve comfort for some, the ASHRAE document clarifies that they can’t protect health.
Leading air filtration manufacturers also agree that their products cannot eliminate secondhand smoke, though advertisements can be misleading. A closer look at the fine print from one of the most famous names in the business reveals a disclaimer that echoes ASHRAEs position: “No air cleaner can protect against the harmful effects of secondhand tobacco smoke.”
Even the worlds largest commercial tobacco company carries a disclaimer on its website that admits ventilation cannot address health issues, “While not shown to address the health effects of secondhand smoke, ventilation can help improve the air quality of an establishment by reducing the sight and smell of smoke and by controlling smoke drift.”
According to The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, more than one-third of Louisianians remain unprotected from secondhand smoke exposure at work, and in a recent poll conducted by Opinion Research Associates, Inc., 75% of registered voters in Louisiana said they would favor a law that would make restaurants smoke-free.
A copy of ASHRAEs complete position paper is available at www.ashrae.org/template/PDFDetail/assetid/46109. ASHRAE is the U.S. and international standard setting body for indoor air quality. The position paper was written to provide its membership and others with information on the health consequences of exposure of nonsmokers to tobacco smoke in indoor environments, and on the implications of this knowledge for the design, installation and operation of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.