Study: Smoking ban puts bad air outside

[The Straight Story]

Study: Smoking ban puts bad air outside

ATHENS, Ga. --- Smoking bans have made the air healthier in bars and restaurants, but may have made the air just outside the establishments more hazardous, University of Georgia researchers have found.


Nonsmoking diners and imbibers sitting in outdoor patios or sidewalk seating areas connected to the bars or restaurants are picking up doses of secondhand smoke, the scientists found.

....

"The question is, is it an environment that warrants concern or further study?" Mr. Naeher said. "The answer is, we don't know yet."

The researchers aren't quite ready to declare outdoor cafes a new health hazard for those that may inhale secondhand smoke there -- including children, restaurant and bar workers, and pregnant women and their unborn children.

"We feel like it's something we need to be taking a look at," said Lou Kudon, one of the authors of the study. Mr. Kudon is program manager for the Athens-based Northeast Health District, which includes Clarke and nine other area counties.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/11/27/met_557244.shtml

Some of the comments:

As for secondhand smoke in the air, OSHA has stated outright that: "Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded." -Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Sec'y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997 -harleyrider1978
Posted by harleyrider1978 on Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:30 AM

Outdoor bans are even crazier than indoor bans. The chemical make-up of shs is nearly 94% water vapor and A SLIGHT AMOUNT OF CARBON DIOXIDE with about 3% being carbon monoxide AND 3% CONTAINING THOSE SUPPOSED KILLER CARCENOGENS......... n-nitrosomines which you hear so much about is actually inorganic arsenic..what they dont tell you is that the measurements they took match the naturally occuring arsenic in the air outside everywhere. they measured levels at 0-29 picograms.
Posted by harleyrider1978 on Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:32 AM

n-nitrosomines which you hear so much about is actually inorganic arsenic..what they dont tell you is that the measurements they took match the naturally occuring arsenic in the air outside everywhere. they measured levels at 0-29 picograms....which is totally safe.its the same as drinking a glass of water..the amount has to be 5 million times that to be harmful to humans........you see how they switched it. Trying to blame shs for what is actually a natural thing. The levels of other things in shs if they can be measured at all are millions if not billions of times smaller than the amounts needed to harm anyone......just remember this second hand smoke is a joke within nano seconds from the burn it turns into WATER VAPOR.....Even the exhaled smoke is loaded down with water vapor...osha has said nothing in shs/ets is going to harm you or anyone else.....what shs will do is irritate those with weak immune responces.......thats why shs is classified as a class 3 IRRITANT BY OSHA AND THE EPA..
Posted by harleyrider1978 on Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:33 AM

[mrcheerful]

1. The non smokers won't buy it, they already have their minds up that it will

kill them and besides smokers smell bad. Funny how they never seem to have a problem loading up their cup boards with hazardous chemicals to clean and freshen their homes with, not to mention the chemicals they use to make their lawns greener then the next door neighbors. Or that their auto's produce more dangerous chemicals then a guy smoking a cigarette, after all lets blame the least of the problems on cigarettes and ignore everything else. Is cigarette smoking bad for you? Well sure, but so is eating and drinking everything except water thats life there are risks to living, everything either has harmful chemicals or is grown in harmful chemicals.

BTW, we are going to be flamed for not supporting the popular beliefs.

[hughee99]

2. Because once you ban it inside, the next logical step is to ban it outside.

We're already starting to see attempts to prevent people from smoking in their own home, car, and yard. Some places are banning employees from smoking even when they're not working because of health care costs.

I'm just waiting for the study that shows smoking significantly impacts global warming. Someone will create one, it's just a matter of time.

[The Straight Story]

3. And if they do have such a study people will soak up and not dream of criticizing it

if you hate something, you believe everything negative about it (I still remember some folks think bush was responsible for the tsunami in 2004...)

[hughee99]

4. Or how they made that girl in Aruba disappear, to distract media attention. n/t