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Lincoln air quality test to fuel smoke-free campaign

May 15, 2008|TODD KLEFFMAN

STANFORD - With Lincoln County ranking in the bottom third of Kentucky counties in terms of overall health, local health department officials believe clearing the air of cigarette smoke will go a long way toward making folks feel better.

"Tobacco is intensely relevant to health issues in Lincoln County," said Dr. Forest Calico, a member of the Board of Health.

The results of an indoor air quality survey released Wednesday will provide ammunition in an upcoming campaign to ban indoor smoking in all buildings open to the public in the county. The tests show indoor air pollution levels at the 10 businesses tested to be, on average, less than in other communities before they enacted smoking bans, but still at unhealthy levels.

The testing was conducted in February at nine randomly chosen, anonymous restaurants and one entertainment venue, all of which allow smoking. The tests measured breathable fine particles in the air that are associated with cigarette smoke to come up with a numerical value or score.

No national standard for indoor air quality

While there is no national standard for indoor air quality, a score of 0 is considered ideal, said Heather Robertson, manager of the University of Kentucky's Center for Smoke Free Policy, who analyzed the data collected at the Lincoln establishments.

Testing showed the best score obtained by a restaurant was 8 and the worst restaurant score was 38. The nine restaurants had an average score of 25.

The entertainment venue tested scored a whopping 784, pushing the average of the 10 venues to 102.

"That sounds like a bingo parlor," Calico said of the entertainment venue, which, like the restaurants, was not identified.

By comparison, Boyle County venues had an average of 129 when similar testing was conducted in 2006. Lexington's average was 199 before a smoking ban, but has dropped to 18 since smoking was prohibited. In Louisville, the average was 304 before an anti-smoking ordinance was adopted, then it plummeted to 9 after a comprehensive smoking ban was approved.

Calico and Robertson said that any exposure to second-hand smoke is dangerous and can contribute to health problems such as lung cancer, heart ailments, pneumonia, asthma and low-birth-weight babies. Prohibiting smoking indoors decreases the potential health risks to whoever works in or uses the buildings, they said.

"It should never be necessary to inhale second-hand smoke to earn a living," Calico said.

Lincoln health officials said they will use the survey data as they begin a campaign to get city and county officials to enact a comprehensive smoking ban. Smoking already is banned in government offices and some businesses in the county, but there is no law on the books to prohibit indoor smoking.

"We are beginning the process and have to keep the momentum going," Calico said. "A committee has been formed but we have not developed a strategy yet."

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