Does the ban on smoking on the beach have any scientific basis or is it just a “fad”? – time.news

2023-07-30 08:10:42

by Roberto Boffi

The smoke of two cigarettes 5 meters apart can produce peaks of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) on the beach that are more than double those measured in a busy urban open space at rush hour

I hear they want to ban smoking on the beach. I’m not a smoker, but I wonder: isn’t the ban an exaggeration and would it be enough just to be polite?

This is answered by Roberto Boffi, pulmonologist, head of Pneumology and the Anti-Smoking Center at the National Cancer Institute in Milan (VAI AL FORUM)

Smoking, even outdoors, can cause damage and we have demonstrated this with research coordinated by the National Cancer Institute focused on measuring black carbon emissions (carbon black, a pollutant classified as probably carcinogenic) from cigarettes lit under the umbrellas. Black carbon is an important indicator of proximity pollution and the data that emerged from our research is disconcerting: scientific experiments and analyzes allow us to say that cigarettes are far more dangerous than other sources of pollutants, including cars and trucks. We have carried out numerous investigations, in winter in cities and in summer in holiday resorts, always arriving at the same conclusions.

Spazi smoke free

This is why many mayors have started issuing ordinances establishing smoke-free public and outdoor urban spaces in Italy (the first was the beach of Bibione, wanted by the former mayor Pasqualino Codognotto, today considered a model to imitate). The percentage of black carbon contained in the particulate is a particularly significant indicator of the quality of airborne dust in terms of their danger. In fact, black carbon is harmful to health as it is capable of carrying carcinogenic substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals, into the human body. In 2012, when there was still no restriction on smoking on Italian beaches, we carried out the first surveys in the Livorno area, to begin to understand the problem and understand how to influence future studies.

The experiment

We have installed detectors in two locations: one on the shoreline of Vada and the other in Piazza Grande in Livorno, where there is a high concentration of traffic. Results: the black carbon values ​​measured on the beach, downwind, reached an average of 6,000 nanograms per cubic meter at a distance of 5 meters from the source of two cigarettes. The same measurement in Piazza Grande was 2,700 nanograms. This means that the smoke of two cigarettes 5 meters apart can produce peaks of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) on the beach that are more than double those measured in a busy urban open space at rush hour. Similar data was also recorded in our surveys on the beach of Bibione (recently published in the important scientific journal Pulmonology
), where we carried out the analyzes in 2014 and 2019, when anti-smoking measures had already gradually entered into force.

Know to decide

It emerged that on the beach, where smoking is no longer permitted, a person is passively exposed to black carbon values ​​three times lower than when the ban did not exist and this happens even if one is downwind of the smoking area. The mayor of Bibione was a pioneer: he allowed us to demonstrate that, thanks to the prohibition of smoking, a person on the beach is significantly less exposed than where, on the other hand, the limitations are reserved only for the shoreline or, worse, where it is still possible to smoke under the umbrellas. Knowing to decide the winning slogan of a competition that we promoted years ago in schools: the duty of our activity as doctors and researchers to inform and give elements of understanding of the harms of cigarettes and the benefits not only of quitting smoking, but also of breathing an air not polluted by secondhand smoke.

July 30, 2023 (change July 30, 2023 | 08:07)

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