Smoking, good and bad indoor air

  Article date: 2002/08/05,California Clean Air Advances Example for Nation

California’s Tobacco Control Program has cleaned up the state’s indoor air in the workplace and at home, according to a report in the American Journal of Public Health (Vol. 92, No. 5: 785-791).

The program began in 1988, funded by the $0.25 per pack excise tax passed by voters, known as Proposition 99. It made California the first to initiate a major state government tobacco control program.

In the beginning, nonsmokers were not a "target population" in the program’s goals. But by 1997, after the release of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports on the dangers of secondhand smoke nonsmoker protection became "a clearly articulated program goal," wrote the authors.

And that year, clean indoor air in the workplace, and for children at home and at school, were touted as program successes.

The article reviewed large surveys done on California households in 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1999 to check the state’s progress in achieving clean indoor air where people worked and where they lived.

The telephone surveys show the state’s progress in raising awareness about the dangers of secondhand smoke, and whether employers were following the law requiring clean air in indoor workplaces.

In the surveys, an adult in the household was asked how many people lived in the household, their ages, and if they smoked. They were also asked about exposure to smoking in the workplace, if there were smoking rules in their homes, and if they came in contact with smoke in places other than at work or at home.

In 1990, the year the first survey was done, 35% of people said they had a smoke-free (indoor) workplace. But by 1999, this had increased to 93%, the authors said.

The workers’ exposure to secondhand smoke also decreased.

"From 1990 to 1999," the authors wrote, "the percentage of nonsmoking indoor workers who reported that someone had smoked in their work area within the previous two weeks declined by…nearly 60%."
Exposure Still Occurring

But they also said some [inequality] "persisted through 1999. In general, males, younger workers, minorities, and the less educated still have higher rates of work area exposure to secondhand smoke.

"Nonetheless, females, young adults (aged 18 to 24), African Americans, and the more highly educated showed recent increases in exposure," they wrote.

The number of smoke-free homes also increased almost two-fold, meaning more children and adolescents were protected from contact with secondhand smoke.

While "smoke-free workplaces are now mandated by law in California," wrote the authors, "smoking restrictions in the home are by agreement among household members."
New Category of Nonsmokers Emerging

Gains made in increased protection from contact with secondhand smoke at work and at home have created a new category of non-smokers — those who "rarely [if ever] are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Almost 40% of adults surveyed in 1999 "had smoke-free homes, had no workplace exposure in the past two weeks, and [did not have to] put up with someone smoking around them" in the past six months.

"Heightened public awareness may be the reason more Californians have smoke-free homes, said the authors. They credited the California Tobacco Control Program’s mass media campaign for that, as it seemed to reach many people regardless of their level of education.

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