Health and safety inspectors may soon be issued with equipment to test air samples in their efforts to stamp out smoking in bars, the public health institute RIVM says.

Officials currently assess whether people have been smoking in a bar or cafe by using their eyes and sense of smell. The smoking ban has been extended to all cafes and bars since the beginning of October.

Experiments are now under way which use portable devices to take air samples. These are then analysed in a laboratory for nicotine and other substances found in tobacco smoke, the RIVM says.

The organisation says research into using air testing devices is ongoing. If Dutch inspectors are eventually equipped with them, it would be a world first, the RIVM says.

– See more at: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/10/public_health_officials_test_a.php#sthash.nozbaMSE.dpuf