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Assessment of environmental tobacco smoke exposure of Finnish restaurant workers, using 3‐ethenylpyridine as marker
Author(s) -
Kuusimäki L.,
Peltonen K.,
Vainiotalo S.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2007.00487.x
Subject(s) - tobacco smoke , citation , library science , environmental health , psychology , medicine , computer science
Exposure of restaurant personnel to environmental tobacco smoke was assessed in 23 restaurants in 2002-2003 after the Finnish Tobacco Act--including restrictions on smoking at bar desks and demands on non-smoking sections--had been extended to restaurants. Air samples were collected using passive samplers from the breathing zone of non-smoking workers during entire work shifts. 3-ethenylpyridine (3-EP) was used as a tobacco-specific vapour-phase marker. The overall median concentration of airborne 3-EP for 97 workers was 1.2 microg/m3, the individual concentrations ranging from <0.06 to 9.4 microg/m3 (n=292). Higher concentrations were measured for staff working in smoking areas or at bar counters than that recorded for those working in non-smoking areas or across different areas. Area samples were collected by passive sampling of 3-EP on organic vapour monitors and by active sampling of 3-EP and nicotine in charcoal tubes. The median concentrations of 3-EP and nicotine were 1.5 microg/m3 (n=292) and 11 microg/m3 (n=92), respectively. In non-smoking areas and at the bar, 3-EP concentrations were 41% and 69% of those measured in smoking areas, with a third of the restaurants having concentrations below 20% in their non-smoking areas.