Dublin restaurants should redesignate their smoking and non-smoking sections as "active" or "passive" smoking, according to research into the effectiveness of isolating smokers conducted by David Comerford (16), of Gonzaga College, Dublin.
David tested 15 non-smokers in the non-smoking section of three restaurants and compared the results to samples taken from a test group of non-smokers on the street.
"It turned out that non-smokers in the non-smoking areas had 1.3 units of carbon-monoxide on their breath, or twice as much as nonsmokers on the street," he said.
A smoker on 20 cigarettes a day would be expected to test for 25 units of carbon-monoxide so the non-smokers in the restaurant had the equivalent of one cigarette's worth of carbon-monoxide in their bodies.
Cigarettes contain about 4,000 separate substances, 15 per cent of which are taken in by the smoker while 85 per cent are exhaled into the atmosphere.
David also surveyed 25 restaurants to ascertain if they were providing 50 per cent of their seating to non-smokers. Only one restaurant met the standard, while 10 out of 25 were below 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, two Dundalk students obtained conclusive evidence that teachers are treated better than the pupils in their school, in one respect at least.
Susan Byrne (16) and Kate Clarke (17), of Dun Lughaidh, Dundalk, decided to investigate the small-scale wind currents present in their school to find out if there were identifiable patterns from day-to-day and if temperature had an effect on them.
Using an anemometer, which measures wind velocity and temperature, they tested three rooms on each level of the school on two separate days and graphed the results. Measurements were taken at zero metres, one metre and two metres to determine if height made a difference and the pattern of the wind was traced along the floors, up the walls and along the ceiling.
In effect, they mapped the draughts in their 46-year-old school through conscientious research but probably their most interesting finding was that there was only one draught excluder in the school. That excluder happened to be in the teachers' staffroom.
To add to the hazards of smoking and draughts, there is the danger posed by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are organic compounds, including CFCs, which take the form of gas in the atmosphere but under normal conditions are liquid or solid.
Shaun O'Connor (16) and Chris Redden (17), of St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh, tested for the presence of three VOCs in their locality: benzyne, toluene and xylene.
Benzyne, according to Shaun, "messes up your DNA and causes cancer" while toluene affects the central nervous system.
The samples, obtained from a personal air sampler, were placed in a thermal disorbtion unit and fed in a gas chromatography unit, which separates the various components and enables them to be graphed by a spectrometer.
Benzyne concentrations proved to be particularly high at petrol stations due to the presence of gasoline and exhaust fumes but they remained below the recommended UK level of five parts per million.
Unfortunately, the bad news for petrol attendants is that the levels of benzyne encountered in Armagh were twice the accepted level in the US, while the World Health Organisation takes the view that even minimal levels of benzyne are unhealthy.