ToxSci Advance Access published online on January 20, 2006
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfj110
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1 Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, 5/F, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Workers in the catering industry are at greater risk of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) when smoke free workplace policies are not in force. We determined the exposure of catering workers to SHS in Hong Kong and their risk of mortality from heart disease and lung cancer. Non-smoking catering workers were provided with screening at their workplaces and at a central clinic. Participants reported workplace, home and leisure time exposure to SHS. Urinary cotinine was estimated by enzyme immunoassay. Catering facilities were classified into three types: non-smoking, partially restricted smoking (with non-smoking areas) and unrestricted smoking. Mean urinary cotinine levels ranged from 3.3 ng/ml in a control group of 16 university staff, through 6.4 ng/ml (non smoking), 6.1 ng/ml (partially restricted) and 15.9 ng/ml (unrestricted smoking) in 104 workers who had no out of work exposures. Workers in non-smoking facilities had exposures to other smoking staff. We modeled workers' mortality risks using average cotinine levels, estimates of workplace respirable particulates, risk data for cancer and heart disease from cohort studies, and national (US) and regional (Hong Kong) mortality for heart disease and lung cancer. We estimated that deaths in the Hong Kong catering workforce of 200,000 occur at the rate of 150 per year for a forty year working life time exposure to SHS. When compared with the current outdoor air quality standards for particulates in Hong Kong, 71% of workers exceeded the 24 hour and 98% exceeded the annual air quality objectives due to workplace SHS exposures.
Received October 31, 2005
Accepted December 23, 2005
Risk Assessment
Risks for Heart Disease and Lung Cancer from Passive Smoking by Workers in the Catering Industry
Anthony J. Hedley 1,
Sarah M. McGhee 1 *,
James L. Repace 2,
Lai-Chin Wong 1,
Marcus Y.S. Yu 3,
Tze-Wai Wong 4,
and
Tai-Hing Lam 1
2 Repace Associates Inc., 101 Felicia Lane, Bowie, MD 20720
3 Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China; Present address: Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Ltd., 18/F, Tower 6, Gateway, 9 Canton Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
4 Department of Family and Community Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
Sarah M. McGhee, E-mail: commed{at}hkucc.hku.hk
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