(RxWiki News) Think rolling down the windows or turning on the air to circulate will help cut down on the health risks for kids from smoking in the car? Think again, the air quality is truly toxic.
A recent study measured air quality inside cars during smoking and non-smoking car rides.
These researchers found concentrations of fine particulate matter in these test cars more than 30 times acceptable health standards. Which indicates smoking in a car is hazardous to your health.
"Do not smoke tobacco."
Sean Semple, PhD, from the Scottish Centre for Indoor Air at the University of Aberdeen and the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital in the UK, led a study into the air pollution levels from smoking in a car.
For the study, 17 people were sent on a 104 car rides from 5-70 minutes long, but averaging 27 minutes, 14 of the people were smokers and 63 of the car rides were smoking ones.
Fine particulate matter was measured in the back seat every minute on the minute of each car ride.
The number of cigarettes smoked per minute of the car ride was the greatest determining factor of fine particulate matter concentration.
Researchers found that even with the windows rolled down and the air conditioning running, the fine particulate matter concentration in the back seat was still higher than World Health Organization (WHO) indoor air quality guidelines.
WHO indoor air quality guidelines recommend no more than 25 micrograms per square meter of fine particulate matter. The average concentration on the smoking car rides was 385 micrograms per square meter.
The highest recorded concentration on one of the car rides was 880 micrograms per square meter of fine particulate matter.
Authors said, “Children exposed to these levels of fine particulate are likely to suffer ill-health effects.”
This study was published in January in Tobacco Control.
Funding for this project was provided by the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Tobacco Control Team and the NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney Tobacco Control Team. No conflicts of interest were reported.
