If an apartment or condo complex contains multiple buildings, one could be designated just for people who smoke, and the others for nonsmokers. Move people who smoke to one section of a building and maintain the other section as smokefree. A person who suffers from a chronic medical condition may be regarded as a person with a disability. It may be that the situation could be interpreted as discriminatory and that the agency will act to remedy the situation. An air quality scientist at UC Berkeley has developed a device which can measure the amount of nicotine in the air in a room.
Contact S.A.F.E. for further information.
A person who is being exposed to drifting secondhand smoke in an apartment or condo can be tested to determine the amount of nicotine in their body. A test of urine or blood will show the amount of cotinine which is present in the body. Cotinine is a by-product of nicotine. These tests can be ordered by a physician, and some labs will do these tests without a physican's order. Drifting secondhand smoke is not only a danger to nonsmokers in apartments and condos.