LogFAQs > #956965538

If there are plenty of studies, you shouldn't have an trouble citing one. Does your building have people breaking the 15 feet from entrances rule? If so, address that, don't blame it on the fact that anyone is smoking anywhere.

"Some folks have expressed the opinion that exposure to outdoor tobacco smoke is insignificant, because it dissipates quickly into the air," said Neil Klepeis, assistant professor (consulting) of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and lead author of the study. "But our findings show that a person sitting or standing next to a smoker outdoors can breathe in wisps of smoke that are many times more concentrated than normal background air pollution levels."

Klepeis pointed to the 2006 Surgeon General's report, which found that even brief exposures to secondhand smoke may have adverse effects on the heart and respiratory systems and increase the severity of asthma attacks, especially in children.

"We were surprised to discover that being within a few feet of a smoker outdoors may expose you to air pollution levels that are comparable, on average, to indoor levels that we measured in previous studies of homes and taverns,"

Regardless of where the exposure takes place -- outside or inside, secondhand smoke poses health risks to children. The U.S. Surgeon General has found that there is no safe level of exposure.

Secondhand smoke concentrations in a variety of outdoor locations can reach levels comparable to indoor concentrations where smoking is permitted.
Secondhand smoke odor is detectable at 23 feet from the source and irritation levels began 13 feet from the source. Furthermore, anyone positioned downwind from an outdoor source of secondhand smoke will be exposed, even at significant distances from the source.

Second-hand smoke (SHS) may be significantly elevated outdoors and when adjacent to smoking areas [1, 2]. This is of concern as SHS exposure is linked to adverse health outcomes, including respiratory disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and lung cancer [35]. Exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in outdoor areas is likely to occur in the presence of cigarette smoke [6], and worryingly, short periods of exposure to SHS are related to detectable levels of carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines in nonsmoking subjects [7].

Conclusion: Salivary cotinine and urinary NNAL increased significantly in nonsmokers after outdoor SHS exposure. Our findings indicate that such exposures may increase risks of health effects associated with tobacco carcinogens.

Tobacco smoke contains at least 172 toxic substances, including 3 regulated outdoor air pollutants, 33 Hazardous Air Pollutants, 47 Chemicals restricted as Hazardous Waste and 67 Known Human or Animal Carcinogens (Repace, 2006). This is true whether tobacco smoke is inhaled in the act of smoking, or inhaled by nonsmokers out of the air indoors or outdoors.

California (2). Klepeis, et al. (2007) measured OTS respirable particle concentrations in outdoor patios, on airport and city sidewalks, and in parks. They also conducted controlled experiments of SHS indoors and OTS outdoors. Klepeis et al. (2007) found that mean SHS particle concentrations outdoors can be comparable to SHS indoors. Within about 2 feet of a smoker OTS was quite high and comparable to SHS concentrations measured indoors