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. 2011 Mar;20(2):156-62.
doi: 10.1136/tc.2010.037614. Epub 2010 Nov 25.

The effect of Sao Paulo's smoke-free legislation on carbon monoxide concentration in hospitality venues and their workers

Jaqueline S Issa  1 , Tania M O Abe, Alexandre C Pereira, Maria Cristina Megid, Cristina E Shimabukuro, Luis Sergio O Valentin, Marizete M da C Ferreira, Moacyr R C Nobre, Ines Lancarotte, Antonio Carlos Pereira Barretto
Affiliations

The effect of Sao Paulo's smoke-free legislation on carbon monoxide concentration in hospitality venues and their workers

Jaqueline S Issa et al. Tob Control. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Studies have shown that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and there is a close link between SHS and the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the most important components present in SHS.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the smoking ban law in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the CO concentration in restaurants, bars, night clubs and similar venues and in their workers.

Methods: In the present study we measured CO concentration in 585 hospitality venues. CO concentration was measured in different environments (indoor, semi-open and open areas) from visited venues, as well as, in the exhaled air from approximately 627 workers of such venues. Measurements were performed twice, before and 12&emsp14;weeks after the law implementation. In addition, the quality of the air in the city during the same period of our study was verified. RESULTS The CO concentration pre-ban and pot-ban in hospitality venues was indoor area 4.57 (3.70) ppm vs 1.35 (1.66) ppm (p<0.0001); semi-open 3.79 (2.49) ppm vs 1.16 (1.14) ppm (p<0.0001); open area 3.31(2.2) ppm vs 1.31 (1.39) ppm (p<0.0001); smoking employees 15.78 (9.76) ppm vs 11.50 (7.53) ppm (p<0.0001) and non-smoking employees 6.88 (5.32) ppm vs 3.50 (2.21) ppm (p<0.0001). The average CO concentration measured in the city was lower than 1 ppm during both pre-ban and post-ban periods.

Conclusion: São Paulo's smoking-free legislation reduced significantly the CO concentration in hospitality venues and in their workers, whether they smoke or not.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: JI has consulted for Pfizer and has been principal investigator for clinical trials of smoking cessation medications funded by Pfizer and other clinical trials funded by Lilly. The other authors report no conflicts.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Absolute values on measured environment CO concentrations before and after ban implantation according to venue type and environment type.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relation between exhaled CO levels in smoking and non-smoking venue employees (X axis) and environment CO levels of visited venues (Y axis). (A) Non-smoking employees pre-ban period; (B) Smoking employees pre-ban period; (C) Non-smoking employees post-ban period; (D) Smoking employees post-ban period.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Exhaled CO reduction after ban implementation in venue employees according to smoking status.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean expired CO levels in smoking employees before and after ban implementation according to changes in smoking behaviour after the ban.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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