Smoking at Bar and Restaurant Entrances Affects Patrons and Workers Inside

The smoke of cigarettes from bar and restaurant patrons who stand just outside the entrance appears to drift inside, a new Spanish study suggests. The researchers call for laws that restrict smoking outside these venues, to more completely protect against secondhand smoke.

The study found smoking on terraces and in the entrances to restaurants and bars raises the concentration of nicotine and particulate matter inside the restaurant, News-Medical.net reports.

Spain implemented a 2011 smoking ban inside restaurants and bars. The researchers found that since the ban was implemented, there has been a 90 percent decrease in nicotine and particulate matter in the air of these venues. However, after the law went into effect, both nicotine and particulate concentrations were significantly higher in venues that allowed smokers to congregate close to the entrance, compared with those that did not, they write in Nicotine & Tobacco Research.