Columbus, OH (PRWEB via PRWebDirect) December 7, 2007 -- Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation (OTPF), reports that a new study has given Ohioans yet another reason to celebrate the Smoke Free Workplace Act which made all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, smoke free. The study coincides with the one-year anniversary of the law going into effect.
Commissioned by the OTPF, the Ohio Air Monitoring Study compared the indoor air quality of 29 bars and restaurants in Ohio communities both before and after the comprehensive smoke free law was in place. Before the Smoke Free Workplace Act, employees in sampled locations were exposed to unhealthy air according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards which measures the fine particle pollution released in significant amounts from burning tobacco.
The Ohio Air Monitoring Study concluded that Ohioans now work in environments with safe levels of fine particle air pollution. The average level of indoor air pollution declined 94 percent after the venues went smoke free as a result of the Smoke Free Workplace Act. In addition, compliance with the law in the 29 places visited was 100 percent with no smoking observed.
“The Smoke Free Workplace Act has been a resounding success for Ohio,” said Mike Renner, Executive Director of the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation (OTPF). “The Smoke Free Workplace Act is about the fundamental right we all have to breathe clean air in our workplace and when we visit someone else’s workplace. The Ohio Air Monitoring Study is a reminder that voters did the right thing, and they should be applauded for their support of this critical public health policy.”
Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, of which at least 250 are known to be toxic or carcinogenic. According to the 2006 Surgeon General’s Report, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke and no ventilation system is designed to remove all the poisonous and cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke.
The Ohio Air Monitoring Study was conducted by the nationally recognized Roswell Park Cancer Institute located in Buffalo, New York. Roswell Park has conducted these studies all over the world in urban, suburban and rural communities. Roswell Park was America’s first cancer center and has taken a leadership role in setting standards for cancer care, research and education.
For a complete copy of the Ohio Air Monitoring Study, please visit OTPF’s secondhand smoke section of their website.
About the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation
The Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation (OTPF) was created by the Ohio General Assembly in 2000 and is funded with monies secured from the national Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) by tobacco companies. OTPF's mission is to reduce and prevent tobacco use by Ohioans. Its vision is to be the most effective tobacco-control agency in the U.S., while creating a tobacco-free Ohio. OTPF programs include the distribution of community grants, the operation of the Ohio Tobacco QUIT LINE at 800-QUIT-NOW, and stand, Ohio’s tobacco use counter-marketing campaign. For more information on OTPF, go to www.otpf.org. Or please visit OTPF’s youth Web site, stand or OTPF’s QUIT LINE Web site.
Links:
http://www.otpf.org/
http://www.otpf.org/resources/secondhandsmoke.aspx
http://www.standonline.org/
http://www.ohioquits.com/
CONTACT:
Pam Knox
(614) 728-2887
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