NEW DELHI, APRIL 30: In its efforts to ban smoking in public places across the country, the Health Ministry will soon start measuring nicotine levels in buildings. Establishments with high nicotine levels, violating the Central Tobacco Act, could invite a complete smoking ban and even fines.

Helping the ministry learn the technique is a team from the Johns Hopkins University, USA. “I am here to train officials how to monitor the nicotine levels, so that there is a baseline data available for taking further steps,” said Lisa Hepp, part of the Johns Hopkins University team which has been here for the past two days. The team is holding classes for officials from New Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Chennai, which the ministry plans to make smoke-free first.

The university has provided 160 air nicotine monitors each for the four cities. The data collected using the monitors over the next week will be sent back to the university for further calculations, said a senior ministry official who attended the workshop. The US experts will also identify two laboratories each in every city for capacity building.

Ministry officials said the study will be carried out over the next six months, adding that the US university was providing its services for free. The university has given a mandate to help countries wanting to free themselves from smoking with the Bloomberg Global Initiative, a project launched with the $125 million New York Mayor Michael R Bloomberg has pledged to eradicate smoking worldwide. “The same procedure is going on in the US and Mexico. We have collaborated with other Asian countries, but it is the first time that India has come forward,” added Hepp.