A study by New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene noted that 57 percent of nonsmoking adults in New York City had elevated levels of nicotine in their blood, compared with 45 percent of nonsmokers nationwide.

 

The findings, published online this week in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, were based on data gathered during a survey of 1,767 adults ages 20 and older in 2004, more than a year after passage of the Smoke Free Air Act of 2002, which banned smoking in virtually all city workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

 

Among non-smokers, 69 percent of Asian adults are thought to have elevated cotinine levels, a byproduct of nicotine breakdown that is not harmful but signals exposure to tobacco smoke. Also, lower-income adults were more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke than those with higher incomes – 63 percent compared to 54 percent.

 

“This is not what we expected. It is a shocking number,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He further described tobacco smoke as a “toxic pollutant,” adding that most New York City nonsmokers are breathing in dangerous chemicals in secondhand smoke, potentially increasing the risk of cancer and heart disease.”

 

Second-hand smoke is estimated to account for at least 35,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,000 deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers nationwide each year.