[Mpls] Smoking and pollution levels

[ArthurTHimmelman at aol.com]

FYI re non-smoking Minneapolis.

Lower Indoor Pollution in Smoke-Free Cities
Cities with indoor smoking bans have dramatically lower indoor air pollution 
than cities that allow patrons to light up in bars and restaurants, according 
to a study released Thursday. Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute 
in Buffalo conducted air quality tests in 53venues in seven major U.S. 
cities, and found that indoor air pollution was an average of 82 percent lower in 
smoke-free cities.
The results appear in line with several smaller studies that showed a 
decrease in air pollution in cities that prohibit indoor smoking.
"If anything is surprising, it's the magnitude of the effect," said Andrew 
Hyland, who led the study. "We're not talking about a 10 percent reduction in 
exposure."
The latest study was partly financed by grants from the Campaign for 
Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-smoking group.
Of the seven cities studied, those that enforced a smoking ban - New York 
City, Buffalo and Los Angeles - had lower levels of indoor air pollution than 
cities that permitted smoking, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, 
Philadelphia and Hoboken, N.J., the study found
New York City had the lowest concentration of indoor pollutants of all the 
cities at 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Buffalo was second followed by 
Los Angeles. Compliance of the smoking ban was observed in all smoke-free 
venues except for three places in Los Angeles where smoking was observed, the study 
found.
Washington, D.C. had the highest levels of indoor air pollution at 392 
micrograms per cubic meter of air followed by Baltimore, Philadelphia and Hoboken. 
The differences can be attributed to the number of smokers at a given time and 
how well the ventilation system displaces the air, Hyland said.
The next step is to determine how increased secondhand smoke affects the 
overall health of bar and restaurant workers, Hyland said. Last year, researchers 
in Montana reported that heart attacks in Helena had dropped sharply during 
the first two months its smoking ban was in effect.
Arthur T. Himmelman
Loring Park