We are saddened by the passing of Jim Repace, whose work helped make decades of progress on smokefree air possible. Jim presented at many ANR Foundation Clearing the Air Institutes® and other trainings, and was an ANR donor for over 25 years. He helped a generation of advocates understand the science of secondhand smoke and put that knowledge to work in their communities.
Explaining the science
Jim was a physicist who understood how secondhand smoke moves through a building. He was an expert voice for why Big Tobacco’s indoor smoking schemes such as “air curtains,” ventilation systems, and smoking rooms/sections cannot eliminate exposure.
Jim helped author the landmark EPA report on secondhand smoke released in January 1993. The report identified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen and documented its harmful effects on children’s respiratory health. The tobacco industry fought the report for years, including through litigation. Despite those efforts to undermine it, the report brought national attention to secondhand smoke and gave communities an important tool for advancing smokefree laws.
Showing the Before and After Data
Jim’s research was important to advancing secondhand smoke protections in office buildings, restaurants, bars, casinos, airplanes, and many other venues. He helped develop methods for measuring and showing secondhand smoke particulate levels, giving advocates a way to demonstrate how air quality improves when a workplace becomes smokefree.
In his 2004 study of Delaware hospitality venues, he measured pollution in a casino, six bars, and a pool hall before and after the state’s smokefree law took effect. His measurements showed that secondhand smoke had accounted for 90% to 95% of the respirable particle pollution when smoking was allowed. Those before-and-after comparisons helped workers, business owners, policymakers, and the public see the improvement in indoor air quality. Air quality assessments remain an important tool in our work today.
Jim and his colleagues also studied air quality in 66 U.S. casinos and found that ventilation and air cleaning systems failed to control secondhand smoke pollution. The findings helped put evidence behind what hospitality workers were experiencing on the job.
His work also helped build the scientific case in the 1990s for 100% smokefree aircraft. In a 2012 interview with ANR, he compared casino workers’ exposure to secondhand smoke with the exposure flight attendants had faced when smoking was allowed on aircraft including “occupational asthma.” The interview remains relevant to the fight for smokefree casino workplaces and other venues today.
Passing the baton
Late in life, Jim was still involved in smokefree campaigns, contributing new research on secondhand smoke in multi-unit housing and serving as an expert witness on the issue. He continued putting his knowledge to work for people exposed to secondhand smoke in all kinds of venues. All of us at Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights are deeply grateful for all he contributed to the smokefree movement.
