11/15/2006 - National Legal News

A recent study shows that state-of-the-art ventilation systems used to remove smoke from restaurants and bars do not eliminate dangerous carcinogens and soot and may even increase their presence in nonsmoking areas.

The study was conducted by James Repace, a secondhand smoke expert, and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It demonstrated that “displacement” ventilation systems may not function properly and, even when they are working, do not protect patrons from hazardous chemicals.

Two restaurants in Mesa, Arizona, were included in the study because their owners had claimed that their ventilation systems complied with the city’s smoke-free restaurant law, which allows an accessory bar to be designated as a smoking area, provided the rest of the establishment is smoke-free.

In one of the restaurants, the level of disease-causing particles found in cigarette smoke was higher in the nonsmoking sections than in the bar area. In the other restaurant, the nonsmoking area was found to have an extremely high level of soot.

Repace also tested a restaurant in Toronto. In his first series of tests, he found that the soot and carcinogen levels in the nonsmoking areas were significantly lower than in the bar area. However, the contaminant levels in the bar were noticeably higher than those in bars with older ventilation systems. After the restaurant banned smoking completely, the levels were re-tested. The amount of contaminants dropped to outdoor levels.