As that old song goes, if you suspect that employees are still sneaking smokes in restrooms and are not adhering to your no-smoking policy and state or local laws, now you can find out—even if the smoke is from marijuana!
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Researchers at Dartmouth College are going to market with the first-ever sensor that detects secondhand and thirdhand tobacco and marijuana smoke in real time.
The plug-in device will be marketed initially to hotels to enforce no-smoking rules, but it is also attracting interest from rental car companies, apartment buildings, public housing, condominium associations and apartment buildings, dormitories, nursing homes, jails, and commercial settings including workplaces.
A wearable version, which is smaller and lighter than a smartphone, will go to market in spring 2015.
“This is a big leap forward in secondhand smoke exposure detection technology,” said Dartmouth Professor of Chemistry Joseph BelBruno, who invented the device.
Unlike ordinary smoke detectors that sense the physical presence of smoke, the new device uses polymer films to detect, measure, and record the presence of nicotine vapor molecules from secondhand and thirdhand smoke in real time.
The polymer is sensitive enough to pick up concentrations measured in parts per billion, making it possible to correlate how much nicotine there is in the air with an equivalent number of cigarettes. The device, which pinpoints when and where the exposure occurred, is more accurate and less expensive than other secondhand smoke sensors, which provide only an average exposure in a limited area over several days or weeks.
In its latest incarnation, BelBruno’s research on a prototype represents an evolution of his earlier proof-of-concept that appeared in the March 2013 journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research and now has been expanded to include two sensors.
The prototype version incorporated just one sensor that recognized nicotine. The new commercial version has two sensors, one attuned to the nicotine in tobacco smoke and another that recognizes a chemical specific to marijuana smoke. The device sends a signal over Wi-Fi that immediately alerts employers that someone is smoking in a prohibited area.
Professor BelBruno, who is also cofounder of manufacturer FreshAir Sensors, says, “Our sensor device will allow people to monitor unobserved areas and ensure they are not being smoked in.”