In 2011, the famous, applauded and criticized anti-smoking law was put into effect, prohibiting smoking inside public establishments such as bars. Since then, the air inside is much cleaner and healthier, but how much more? An investigation by the Institute for Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies, IDAEA, belonging to the CSIC has analyzed it.
Before the implementation of the law, concentrations of PM10 particles (those whose diameter is less than 10 µm) exceeded 200 µm per cubic meter of air, that is, four times more than the legal maximum allowed . Likewise, the amount of ultrafine particles (those with a size of less than 100 nanometers and the most dangerous to health) was around 60,000 per cubic centimeter depending on the ventilation conditions. Or what is the same, four times more than usual in the city of Barcelona, and similar to the levels detected in urban roads with a lot of traffic.
After calculating the amount of toxins that existed in the air before and after the implementation of the anti-smoking law, the results have been devastating, the amount of toxic and carcinogenic substances have been reduced by 90 percent . As the main author of the study, Jorge Pey, points out to the scientific news agency SINC ” the benefit of the law is substantial for the purposes of chemical composition, with reductions of 90% in the most critical components from a toxicological point of view ” .
In addition, the researchers found in their study about 30 times more concentration of lanthanum and cerium, two elements generated by the ignition of the spark of the lighters.
The research has been published in the specialized scientific journal Particuology .
