FAQ on Testing for Smoke Intrusion in Multiunit Dwellings
Q. What air-monitoring testing devices are the most effective for providing hard evidence indicating that tobacco smoke is drifting from one apartment to another?
A. Devices that monitor nicotine are the best because nicotine is a unique chemical that cannot be detected by most other devices. If nicotine is detected in the air, it is infiltrating a unit. An active nicotine monitor is the best but ten times more expensive than a passive nicotine monitor.
Q. What about using a particle monitor like a Sidewalk or Delos monitor?
A. Neither of these devices is sufficient. Particles are not unique to secondhand smoke, but nicotine is. A person cooking in an apartment can create as much smoke as cigarettes can, and it is not possible to distinguish between the two with a simple particle monitor. In other words, a particle monitor would likely pick up other sources of PM2.5 (the key marker for nicotine) that are similar to secondhand smoke drift.
Q. What about using cotinine tests as long as someone witnesses them?
A. According to Repace, unless the subjects are bedridden, they can pick up cotinine from breathing secondhand smoke on the street or elsewhere which makes it hard to claim it came from someone else's apartment. In addition, the levels of continine in the blood from this type of exposure to secondhand smoke would likely be extremely low and very hard to detect.
Q. Are there any other types of devices that could provide evidence of tobacco-smoke infiltration?
A. No, either an active or passive nicotine monitor is the most cost-effective device according to Repace.
Q, How would a passive nicotine monitor be used to conduct such tests?
A. A monitor would need to be placed in a unit that is adjacent to a smoker's unit for a month. Then the data would need to be analyzed by an expert and a report issued that indicates the extent of the infiltration and whether it is a health hazard.
Q. Because nicotine drifts, how do you overcome the issue of nicotine absorbing into surfaces when using the nicotine monitor?
A. According to Jim Repace, nicotine is absorbed as it passes through a wall; so the presence of other secondhand-smoke components, such as particles, will be underestimated by at least a factor of 10 and probably much more. How much more is not well understood at present and likely varies from building to building.
Q. Will this kind of test be helpful if residents are claiming that the smoke smell is coming from thirdhand smoke on their clothes or carpets?
A. According to David Bohac, there will be some outgasing of secondhand-smoke compounds after smoking has stopped in a building. Once smoking has stopped for more than a month in a smoking-allowed unit, it is doubtful that tobacco-smoke odors could still be smelled inside a neighboring non-smoking unit. The Center for Energy and Environment conducted some monitoring in bars/restaurants of some gaseous secondhand-smoke compounds such as nicotine, 3-EP, pyridine, and pyrrole for a month after a smoking ban went into place. The concentrations of those four compounds all decreased by a factor of 8 to 16 after a smoking ban was put into place. Also, the smell from outgasing of secondhand-smoke compounds after smoking has stopped in a building would be fairly consistent and not periodic.
Q, Who can provide a passive nicotine monitor and analyze the tests?
A. Jim Repace can provide a passive nicotine monitor for measuring tobacco-smoke intrusion in multiunit dwellings and a report analyzing the data for a fee.
James Repace, MSc., is a biophysicist and an international secondhand-smoke consultant who has published more than 60 scientific papers on the hazard, exposure, dose, risk, and control of secondhand smoke. Web site: http://www.repace.com/
David Bohac is director of research at the Center for Energy and Urban Environment in Minneapolis. Web site: http://www.mncee.org/
This fact sheet is provided as a public service by the Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution (GASP of Colorado) and is not intended as legal advice.
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