CIGARETTE smoke produces far more air pollution than diesel car exhaust, according to new research.
Scientists analysed air quality in a garage after running a diesel Ford Mondeo for half an hour, and compared it with pollutants produced by three smokers over the same time.
Tobacco smoke produces fine particles which are a known risk factor for heart disease, lung cancer and asthma. At its peak, the diesel exhaust was double the level of particles found outdoors, and the tobacco smoke matter reached levels 15 times those outdoors.
Giovanni Invernizzi, the lead author from the Tobacco Control Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, said that air pollution indoors often far exceeded that outdoors because of reduced particulate emissions from cars. The findings in the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control report, come after a Swedish study showing that smokers exhale high levels of a poison linked to asthma and bronchitis.