Indoor Smoking Bans Kick Carcinogens to the Curb

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On two consecutive Friday and Saturday afternoons, air sample readings were taken directly outside each locale every 30 seconds. Each of the four establishments had a designated smokers area with or without seating, either outside the main entrance or in an internal courtyard.

The researchers sampled levels of smoking-linked carbon monoxide levels and fine particle matter. The latter, called PM2.5, can penetrate deep into the lung.

The result: the more smokers present in the smoking zones, the greater the amount of carbon monoxide and PM2.5.

Smoking areas outside bars had the highest substance readings, followed by those outside restaurants. Compared with the location away from any of the four establishments, PM2.5 readings were nearly three times as high outside bars and twice as high outside the restaurants.

Naeher stressed that the study readings seemed to correlate exclusively with smokers, not nearby car traffic.

It's tough to asses the exact health hazard posed by the observed curbside pollution levels, Naeher said. But his group is conducting follow-up research that tries to measure that impact, based on urine and saliva samples from people loitering in smoking zones.

In the meantime, one longtime anti-smoking advocate said moves to ban indoor smoking in restaurants and bars are still important.

"The fact is that you're better off having it outside than inside," said Stanton A. Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. With bans on indoor smoking in place, "the only choice smokers have is to go outdoors," he said. "And while that could cause a problem for people who choose to go to those areas, presumably people who don't smoke are not going to hang out there."

He pointed out that some states, such as California, have also tackled concerns about outside smoking zones by making it illegal to light up within a certain distance of a public facility.

"But even where this isn't regulated, the smoke will get blown away," added Glantz. "And there's good literature that shows that when you make a workplace smoke-free people cut down cigarette consumption overall. So, this is a far better way to go than what we had before."