The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major contributor to indoor air concentrations and exposure to particles. Tobacco and hospitality industries maintain ventilation as a solution for this problem, but studies indicate that it is not the appropriate solution. In this research, the influence of ventilation on indoor air quality of places subjected to ETS was studied.

Methods: In order to access this influence, a building airflow model and a model for predicting pollutant concentrations from smoking were used. Simulated concentrations were submitted to risk assessment.

Results: It was evidenced that even high flow rates do not reduce life risk imposed by ETS to the acceptable level: this reduction demands very high flow rates, unacceptable in terms of comfort. Simulating natural ventilation, it was verified that winds of the order of thousands kilometers per hour would be necessary for induce these flow rates. It was concluded that ventilation does not solve the problem imposed by ETS on indoor environments and that the only viable solution is the prohibition of smoking.