Jump to full article: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), 2005-06-30
Intro: 5.0 CONCLUSIONS
• There is a consensus among cognizant medical authorities that ETS is a health risk, causing lung cancer and heart disease in adults, and causing adverse effects on the respiratory health of children, including exacerbating asthma and increasing risk for lower respiratory tract infection.
• At present, the only means of eliminating health risks associated with indoor exposure is to ban all smoking activity.
• Although complete separation and isolation of smoking rooms can control ETS exposure in non-smoking spaces in the same building, adverse health effects for the occupants of the smoking room cannot be controlled by ventilation.
• No other engineering approaches, including current and advanced dilution ventilation, “air curtains” or air cleaning technologies, have been demonstrated or should be relied upon to control health risks from ETS exposure in spaces where smoking occurs, though some approaches may reduce that exposure and address odor and some forms of irritation.
• An increasing number of local and national governments, as well as many private building owners, are implementing/adopting bans on indoor smoking.
• At a minimum, ASHRAE members must abide by local regulations and building codes and stay aware of changes where they practice; they should also educate/inform their clients of the limits of engineering controls in regard to ETS.
• Because of ASHRAE’s mission to act for the benefit of the public, it encourages elimination of smoking in the indoor environment as the optimal way to control ETS exposure.
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