Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bill 4779 into law July 23, requiring health facilities and agencies statewide to use equipment that captures and removes surgical smoke during procedures involving lasers, electric instruments or other heat-producing tools, Big Rapid News reported July 27.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-Watervliet), amends Michigan’s Public Health Code. Surgical smoke plumes contain more than 80 hazardous chemicals, including benzene, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde, posing respiratory risks to surgeons, nurses and other operating room staff who breathe them in daily.
“These bipartisan bills build on that work by protecting patients and health care workers from surgical smoke, encouraging organ donation, and improving our response to federal scheduling of controlled substances,” Ms. Whitmer said in a statement announcing the signing in Lansing.
The surgical smoke measure was one of five bipartisan health bills Ms. Whitmer signed that day, alongside legislation addressing opioid settlement litigation, pharmacy board review timelines for controlled substances, organ and tissue donation outreach at physician offices, and a new adaptive care license for rural ambulance services.
Michigan joins more than a dozen states, including Rhode Island, Colorado and Kentucky, that have enacted surgical smoke evacuation mandates in recent years, as nursing groups like AORN continue pushing for smoke-free operating rooms nationwide.
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