2018 Volume vol.12 Issue 09 Pages 1-5
Abstract
[Introduction] Although passivesmoking is a serious risk factor affecting the health of non-smokers and
minors, the prohibition of smoking was enforced at 12 campuses in 27 campuses (44%) in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Unfortunately, smoking areas still exist in universities. Therefore, we investigated the environment around
the smoking area at University of Shizuoka, Kusanagi campus.
[Methods] We measured suspended particle matter (SPM) in the air nearby the two distinct smoking areas at
University of Shizuoka. The digital particle meter, LD-3K2 (Sibata Scientific Technology, Ltd.) between
10h00 and 18h00 in sunny and calm conditions was employed to perform the measurements. The Basic Environment
Act and the Tentative Guideline for Alerts (Ministry of the Environment, Japan) were used to determine
thresholds.
[Results] The results of SPM measurement are as follows:
1. The maximum SPM concentration in the outside smoking area was 1,830 μg/m3. It was higher than the
reference value (35 μg/m3) at least nine times a day.
2. The maximum SPM concentration 5 m from the outside smoking area was 77.5 μg/m3. It was higher than the
reference value at least twice a day.
3. The maximum SPM concentration in front of the inside smoking area was 113 μg/m3. It was higher than the
reference value at least five times a day. Moreover, it was higher than 70 μg/m3, the reference value of
Tentative Guideline for Alerts, three times a day.
[Conclusion] Our results showed that more than half of the universities in Shizuoka Prefecture did not
enforce strict rules to avoid passive smoking. This indicates that people who visit universities, especially
those who walk in the vicinity of smoking areas, are at serious health risk. Universities are public places
and open to everyone. Therefore, there should be a rule enforcing no smoking at universities to ensure
everyone’s safety.