Passive Smoking Raises Carcinogen Levels In Urine Rapidly

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Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Lung Cancer;  Public Health
Article Date: 29 Jun 2007 - 9:00 PST

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If you work in a bar your urine levels of NNK can rise rapidly after a short period of breathing in secondhand smoke, even if you are a non-smoker, say researchers from Multnomah County Health Department in Portland, Oregon. NKK is a carcinogen closely associated with lung cancer.

NKK = 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone

You can read about this study in the American Journal of Public Health.

The researchers measured urine levels of 84 non-smoking bartenders and restaurant workers in Oregon. 52 of them did one shift in a no smoking bar/restaurant, while the others worked a shift where smoking was allowed.

NKK is only ever found in a person who either smokes or breathes other people's smoke.

The participants gave urine samples before and immediately after their shifts. Stark and team found that 75% of the participants who had worked in an establishment where smoking was allowed had some detectable level of NKK. The team also found that levels went up for each hour worked.

Stark and team suggest that this new study provides more evidence that passive smoking is hazardous to health and that people should be protected.

Secondhand smoking = Passive smoking (breathing in the smoke of other smokers, while not smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe yourself)

"The Impact of Clean Indoor Air Exemptions and Preemption Policies on the Prevalence of a Tobacco-Specific Lung Carcinogen Among Nonsmoking Bar and Restaurant Workers"
Michael J. Stark , Kristen Rohde, Julie E. Maher, Barbara A. Pizacani , Clyde W. Dent , Ronda Bard , Steven G. Carmella , Adam R. Benoit , Nicole M. Thomson , Stephen S. Hecht
American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2006.094086
Link to abstract

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
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