RESEARCH PAPER

ASHRAE Standard 62: tobacco industry’s influence over national ventilation standards

S Aguinaga Bialous, S A Glantz

Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, Cardiovascular Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Stanton A Glantz, PhD, Box 0103, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0130, USA;
glantz{at}medicine.ucsf.edu

Objective: To describe the role of the tobacco industry in the development of ventilation standards for indoor air quality by influencing the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Methods: Review of tobacco industry documents available on the internet between January 2001 and March 2002. Search terms included "ASHRAE", "ventilation", "minutes", "memo", and the names of key players and organisations as identified in the initial searches. Analysis of ASHRAE and other relevant documents publicly available and the personal files of a Standard 62 committee member; interviews of a selected number of ASHRAE players; observation of an ASHRAE meeting.

Results: The tobacco industry has been involved in the development of ventilation standards for over 20 years. It has successfully influenced the standard and continues to attempt to change the standard from a smoke-free framework into an "accommodation" framework. The industry acts directly and through consultants and allies. The major health groups have been largely absent and the health interests have been poorly represented in standard development. While concentrated in the USA, ASHRAE standards are adopted worldwide.

Conclusion: The tobacco industry determined that allowing smoking in ventilation standards for indoor air quality was a high priority and dedicated significant human and financial resources to ensure that its interests were represented. The health groups, until recently, have largely ignored the policy implications for tobacco control of standard development. This situation is changing, but unless health groups maintain high visibility within ASHRAE, the tobacco industry may succeed in creating a standard that ignores the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Keywords: ventilation; indoor air quality; standards; tobacco industry; secondhand smoke

Abbreviations: ANSI, American National Standards Institute; ASHRAE; American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers; BCIA, Business Council on Indoor Air; BOCA, Building and Official Code Administrators; BSR, board of standards review; EPA, Environmental Protection Agency; ETS, environmental tobacco smoke; GASP, Massachusetts Group Against Smoking Pollution; IAQ, indoor air quality; ISO, International Organization for Standardization; NRA, National Restaurant Association; OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration; PM, Philip Morris; SHS, secondhand smoke; SPC, standard project committee; SSPC, standing standard project committee; TC, technical committee

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Cook, D. M., Bero, L. A. (2009). The Politics of Smoking in Federal Buildings: An Executive Order Case Study. AJPH 99: 1588-1595 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kummerfeldt, C E, Barnoya, J, Bero, L (2009). Philip Morris involvement in the development of an air quality laboratory in El Salvador. Tobacco Control 18: 241-244 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tong, E. K., Glantz, S. A. (2007). Tobacco Industry Efforts Undermining Evidence Linking Secondhand Smoke With Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation 116: 1845-1854 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• McDaniel, P A, Smith, E A, Malone, R E (2006). Philip Morris's Project Sunrise: weakening tobacco control by working with it. Tobacco Control 15: 215-223 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Barnoya, J., Glantz, S. A. (2006). The tobacco industry's worldwide ETS consultants project: European and Asian components. Eur J Public Health 16: 69-77 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cook, D. M., Tong, E. K., Glantz, S. A., Bero, L. A. (2005). The Power Of Paperwork: How Philip Morris Neutralized The Medical Code For Secondhand Smoke. Health Aff (Millwood) 24: 994-1004 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Pilkington, P, Gilmore, A B (2004). The Living Tomorrow Project: how Philip Morris has used a Belgian tourist attraction to promote ventilation approaches to the control of second hand smoke. Tobacco Control 13: 375-378 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tong, E K, Glantz, S A (2004). ARTIST (Asian regional tobacco industry scientist team): Philip Morris' attempt to exert a scientific and regulatory agenda on Asia. Tobacco Control 13: ii118-ii124 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Mandel, L L, Glantz, S A (2004). Hedging their bets: tobacco and gambling industries work against smoke-free policies. Tobacco Control 13: 268-276 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Neilsen, K, Glantz, S A (2004). A tobacco industry study of airline cabin air quality: dropping inconvenient findings. Tobacco Control 13: i20-29 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Drope, J, Bialous, S A, Glantz, S A (2004). Tobacco industry efforts to present ventilation as an alternative to smoke-free environments in North America. Tobacco Control 13: i41-47 [Abstract] [Full Text]