Environmental Health Center

EnvironMinute Health Scripts

In workplaces where smoking is still allowed, nonsmokers can't help but inhale secondhand smoke. The risks to nonsmokers are increased, and we'll filter out the facts on today's EnvironMinute. [:09]

A study of secondhand smoke was recently reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In 25 different Massachusetts offices, cafeterias, and production sites where smoking was allowed, researchers examined levels of secondhand smoke by sampling air with fiber disks treated to react to nicotine. The results? Nicotine levels in some areas were three times higher than the amount considered hazardous by U.S. standards. Earlier studies suggest that prolonged exposure to such levels raises the risk of lung cancer, and that's not just smoke and mirrors for all those who work where it's okay to light up on the job. [:36]

The EnvironMinute is produced in cooperation with the National Safety Council and made possible by the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation. [:10]

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