Passive smokers: they prove that cannabis pipes emit four times more pollutants than tobacco cigarettes

Studies on the risks and consequences of traditional passive cigarette smokers are widely disseminated and it has been their conclusions that have driven non-smoking spaces inside buildings, offices, public areas and hotels, among many other options. However, another front, not previously investigated, is now opening up. Breathing secondhand cannabis smoke from a bong (water pipe) exposes people to four times more toxic pollutants than those from a standard cigarette, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

This article is one of the first to show that marijuana vapors, such as tobacco vapors, also pose a risk. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, monitored levels of PM2.5, a type of particle that can worsen asthma and heart disease, in a real environment where a group of young adults smoked cannabis socially with a bong for two hours in the living room of a common house. An aerosol monitor was placed where a non-smoker could sit, recording PM2.5 levels before, during and after eight sessions.

Patton Nguyen, a master's student in public health at the university and lead author of the study, warned that “smoking bong is not safe. The toxic gases released by the devices could pose a risk to children, pregnant women and grandparents if they also inhaled them.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been warning that marijuana smoke contains many of the same toxic and carcinogenic chemicals found in cigarettes. Previous studies have shown that the compound responsible for marijuana's “high” can be transmitted to children and infants through passive use. This could pose a risk to mental development and trigger problems with attention, motivation, and memory.

The researchers, who published their findings on JAMA Network Open, asked participants to sit in a room with windows and doors closed and smoke a bong for about two hours. An aerosol monitor, which is often used in sites where there is a risk of exposure to toxic gases, was then used to measure PM2.5 levels. They found that during these periods PM2.5 levels increased to around 1,300 micrograms of gaseous pollutants per cubic meter of air (ug/m3). This is approximately five times the maximum recommended level by the US Environmental Protection Agency of 250 ug/m3. It was also four times higher than the measurement in rooms where people smoked cigarettes, up to 330 ug/m3.

From 12 hours after cannabis was stopped smoking, levels continued to exceed the EPA daily standard, 35 ug/m3, six times. The study did not look at PM2.5 levels after smoking cannabis as a cigarette. The data on smoking that the specialists used come from a separate study conducted by researchers at Columbia University last year.

In the Columbia study, PM2.5 levels were measured during a smoking session in rooms in the New York area. PM2.5 is a tiny particle that can be released by cars, planes, and burned cigarettes and cannabis. It can irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, causing coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath. Previous studies have also linked higher levels of this pollutant to an increasing number of respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations.

Nguyen explained: “The cannabis bong smoker at home can expose non-smokers to extremely high concentrations of fine particles, up to 10 times more than wildfire smoke, a very unhealthy option that California's Bay Area experienced during sky days orange from september 2020.

“The public must be aware of the possible complications that can occur with passively experienced cannabis smoke,” Nguyen warned. Smokers need to understand how smoking indoors can affect others and potentially expose children, pregnant women, the elderly, workers and non-smokers. Public health policies should establish smoke-free environments similar to those free of common tobacco smoke.” About seven out of ten cannabis smokers in the U.S. The US consumes it smoking, while one in 10 eats it or smokes it through a bong, respectively.

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