Restaurant Press Releases

New and Improved Ventilation Systems as Secondhand Smoke Solution

CONTACT:
Paul McIntyre or
Anne Naughton
(916) 780-0226

As the debate on secondhand tobacco smoke in restaurants continues to evolve, one solution that is often presented as the ultimate resolution is new and improved air ventilation systems that backers assert can clean the air to a degree that both smokers and non-smokers can dine together irritant free.

Has this technological remedy arrived? Can the 43 carcinogens in secondhand tobacco smoke now be removed from the air so that restaurant patrons and workers alike can enjoy a healthy secondhand smoke free experience? Is such ventilation equipment worth a restaurateur's investment?

It's true, new and improved ventilations systems have made significant strides in reducing the offensive odor and associated discomfort of having tobacco smoke in the air. But claims on health protection are absent simply because systems capable of removing tobacco smoke's 43 carcinogens from the air still do not exist.

Tobacco-safe ventilation systems are simply not available. If they were, such technology would not only be presented to restaurants, but other smoke-banned workplaces as well. If new and improved ventilation systems really work, why aren't they being touted as an opportunity to re-introduce smoke on airlines?

Ventilation systems are expensive and unacceptable solutions that only address comfort levels. As carbon monoxide-filled secondhand smoke has proven, what you can't smell may still kill you.

The only assurance improved ventilation systems can guarantee a restaurateur is a hefty new equipment and utility bill. Without the ability to remove tobacco poisons from the air, even the newest ventilation systems will, in all likelihood, be declared useless by clean indoor air regulators in the near future anyway.