Air Filters Effective in Filtering Out Harmful Effects of Second-hand Smoke

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry is aware of any air filters available in the market which have been proven to effectively filter out the harmful effects of second-hand smoke in private homes.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: We are unaware of any air filtration technology which would be effective at filtering out the harmful effects of cigarette smoke.

The toxic constituents of cigarette smoke are both particulate and gaseous in nature. Residential air cleaning technology is unable to adequately remove all of the gaseous components, such as formaldehyde, benzene and carbon monoxide.