Secondhand smoke hazardous to hookah bar workers

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/nyu-nrs012216.php

Public Release: 25-Jan-2016
NYU research: Secondhand smoke hazardous to hookah bar workers
Study recommends closer monitoring of the hookah bar industry to protect the public
New York University

This is the finding of the study, "Secondhand hookah smoke: an occupational hazard for hookah bar employees," led by researchers at New York University's College of Global Public Health (CGPH) and Langone Medical Center, published online January 25, 2016 in Tobacco Control.

Tested as they left their shifts, ten hookah bar employees were found to have elevated levels of toxins and identifiable markers of inflammation that are linked to airway and heart diseases. In fact, some of those tested had results akin to those seen in heavy cigarette smokers, an ironic result given that many young people see hookah pipe smoking as a "safe," hip alternative to cigarettes.

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"Hookah use is often exempt from clean indoor air laws that protect people from secondhand smoke," says toxicologist and senior study author Terry Gordon, PhD, a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU Langone and at the university's CGPH. "Ours is the first study that links poor hookah bar air quality to damaging effects in workers, and the results recommend closer monitoring of this industry to protect the public."

Secondhand smoke exposure is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States, responsible for 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 35,000 heart disease deaths annually among Americans that never smoked. Beyond health consequences, the new study identified airborne nicotine in the four hookah bars surveyed even though tobacco-based shisha is banned in these venues in New York City.

The research team found that indoor air pollutant concentrations varied, but they were directly proportional to the number of people smoking and water pipes used. Many of the hookah lounges had no open windows or doors to ventilate the smoke, say the study authors.

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