Sept. 24, 2004: Ventilation In Bars, Casinos Doesn't Control Harmful Particles
BALTIMORE - The level of cancer-causing particles is much higher in the air of smoke-filled bars and casinos than on truck-choked highways and city streets, according to a published comparison of indoor air quality before and after smoke-free workplace legislation. The study, conducted in a casino, six bars, and a pool hall in Wilmington, Del., is published in the September 2004 Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
"This research clearly shows that it is far worse for your health to be a bartender or casino dealer in a smoking-permitted establishment than it is to be a turnpike toll collector," said James L. Repace, MSc., the study's author. "These workers breathe an average of 90 percent cleaner air after a smoke-free workplace law." Repace, a health physicist, is visiting assistant clinical professor at Boston's Tufts University School of Medicine and a secondhand smoke consultant based in Bowie, Md.