Passive smoking at work continues to increase despite smoking bans

Despite multiple smoking bans: passive smoking in the workplace continues to increase
Although there are smoking restrictions in many places, more and more non-smokers are exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace. In restaurants and bars, on the other hand, the number of passive smokers has declined. Every year thousands of Germans die from the smoke even though they do not smoke themselves.

Smoking also endangers fellow human beings
Smoking endangers not only one's own health but also the health of others. According to previous World Health Organization (WHO) international data collection, passive smoking kills 600,000 people annually. Studies have shown that passive heartbreaks can cause heart diseases such as heart attacks, respiratory diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. According to a recent study, many non-smokers are still exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace despite frequent smoking bans.

According to a recent study, more and more non-smokers are exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace. And that, although there are smoking restrictions in many places. (Image: Kitty / fotolia.com)

Thick air in the workplace
Although smoking is banned in more and more places, the workplace is still often stifling.

According to an EU-wide study by Imperial College in London, the number of people affected in Germany in 2014 was even higher than five years earlier - although public smoking was severely curtailed during this period.

The results of the study have now been presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, according to news agency dpa.

Non-smokers must be protected from tobacco smoke
According to the information, in Germany in 2009 still 14.8 percent of study participants were affected by passive smoking at work. In 2014 it was over 20 percent.

However, the scientists could not answer why this increase occurred. They assume that the current non-smoking protection at work is not sufficient.

According to workplace regulations, employers in Germany must ensure that non-smokers are protected from tobacco smoke in the workplace.

According to the dpa report, Germany is thus below the EU average, where in 2014 a total of 27.5 percent of all respondents inhaled tobacco smoke at work. In 2009, it was 23.8 percent.

With non-smoker protection more could be done
An improved nonsmoker protection prevents numerous deaths. However, Germany could do a lot more here.

This is how Prof. Dr. Heino Stöver from the Institute for Addiction Research of the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Frankfurt UAS) in an earlier communication: "In tobacco control, we are one of the last places in Europe."

"In addition, comparatively little is done in Germany for effective tobacco prevention. Germany is the only country in Europe that still allows tobacco advertising to go unrestricted, which should not be, "says the expert.

Again and again experts demanded a tobacco advertising ban. According to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany is still a smoker's paradise.

According to the DKFZ, almost 3,000 non-smokers in Germany die every year from the consequences of secondhand smoke. Regular inhalation of smoke therefore leads to heart disease, strokes and respiratory diseases.

Number of passive smokers in restaurants and bars decreased
The survey of the London Imperial College referred to work in confined spaces. A total of 55,000 people were interviewed within the EU, half of them in 2009 and the other in 2014.

According to a college spokesman, it is "worrying that the number of workers exposed to secondhand smoke in offices, shops and factories is increasing significantly."

The number of passive smokers in restaurants and bars, however, fell everywhere according to the study. (Ad)