Keywords
Benzene; Cigarette smoke markers; Compliance; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act; Smoking ban; Nonsmoking areas – Law and Legislation; Smoking; Smoking legislation
Disciplines
Community-Based Research | Medicine and Health | Public Health
Abstract
Objectives: We quantitatively evaluated compliance with the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act (NCIAA) by different types of businesses in Nevada and determined whether compliance affected indoor concentrations of benzene and 3-ethenyl pyridine (3-EP), markers of tobacco smoke.
Methods: Managers of 181 businesses in Washoe County, Nevada, were interviewed about business characteristics and practices and policies related to smoking. During unannounced visits, compliance data and air samples (n=66) were collected from interviewed businesses and from an additional sample (n = 56) of businesses without knowledge of the study.
Results: Overall compliance, as defined by the NCIAA, was low (28.2%). Benzene concentrations were higher in casino restaurants than in other businesses, although most complied with the requirements of the ban. Neither benzene nor 3-EP concentrations differed significantly between compliant and non-compliant businesses.
Conclusions: The finding that casino restaurants had poorer air quality despite their compliance with the NCIAA suggests that compliance alone may not be sufficient to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, particularly in buildings with both nonsmoking and smoking areas.
Recommended Citation
Elliott, Leslie; Loomis, Dana; Bridgforth, Andrew B.; O’Mara, Stephanie; Brock, Louise T.; Hansen, Brian; Minarik, Melanie Marie; and Louderback, Kathryn
(2009)
"First-year compliance with the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act,"
Nevada Journal of Public Health: Vol. 6:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/njph/vol6/iss1/1
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