Secondhand smoke acts fast, study finds
Bars - Nonsmokers absorb a carcinogen in just a few hours, experts say


ANDY DWORKIN
The Oregonian

Your body absorbs notable levels of a cancer-causing chemical in the time it takes to watch a long ballgame in a smoky tavern.

For years, people have known that regular exposure to secondhand smoke can cause cancer and heart disease. But a new study by Multnomah County Health officials found that a dangerous chemical from cigarettes builds up surprisingly fast, tainting nonsmokers' bodies in just a few hours.

"Even within a brief work shift, we can see increasing levels of this potent lung carcinogen," said Michael Stark, a health department worker and lead author of the paper in August's American Journal of Public Health.

The study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked at 52 nonsmokers working in 39 different Oregon bars or restaurants that allow smoking. The workers provided urine samples before and after work shifts at least four hours long. So did 32 workers in bars or restaurants in Eugene, Corvallis or Philomath, cities that ban smoking in those businesses.

Scientists tested the urine for signs of the chemical NNK, known to cause a kind of lung tumor seen in smokers and in nonsmokers who live or work with people that smoke.

Employees of smoky businesses were almost 6 times more likely to have detectable levels of the carcinogen in their urine. And those levels seem to grow about 6 percent for every hour they were at work, Stark said. Once someone inhales NNK, it takes up to 45 days for signs of the carcinogen to leave their body.

Stark noted that restaurant and bar workers tend to be younger women with lower incomes and sometimes no health insurance, a population vulnerable to health problems. Working amid smoke raises their risk not only for lung cancer but also breast cancer, heart attack, premature birth and other health problems.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a just-passed law banning smoking in all workplaces, except cigar bars and tobacco shops, starting in January 2009. Given the health risks, Stark sees no reason to wait.

"I would encourage bar owners and restaurant owners, as some have already done, to think of going smoke-free now or soon," he said.