Abstract

PERUGA, Armando; FU, Marcela; MOLINA, Xaviera  and  FERNANDEZ, Esteve. Night entertainment venues comply poorly with the smoke-free law in Chile. Gac Sanit [online]. 2021, vol.35, n.4, pp.402-404.  Epub Dec 27, 2021. ISSN 0213-9111.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2020.04.016.

The initial high level of compliance with the Chilean comprehensive national smoke-free law in 2013 is fading, particularly in the hospitality sector. This paper draws attention to how using a simple and low-cost surveillance inquiry may help focus on the use of scarce inspection resources to improve compliance with the law in the hospitality sector. We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of second-hand smoke exposure in night entertainment venues in Santiago, Chile, by measuring particulate matter of less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5). Smoking where prohibited by law was observed in 36% of the venues visited. Venues where smoking was spotted at the time of the observation had a median PM2.5 concentration 13 times higher than background concentration on the street. The study shows that a targeted approach for inspection to find pockets of venues with suboptimal compliance is feasible and affordable.

Keywords : Second-hand smoke; Tobacco smoke pollution; Passive smoking; Smoke-free legislation; Hospitality sector; Enforcement.

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