Legislation would outlaw surgical smoke in Calif.

California lawmakers have proposed legislation that would mandate the use of smoke-evacuation systems in operating rooms, according to an article on the Outpatient Surgery website.

California could become the first U.S. state to make surgical smoke evacuation mandatory. 

Assembly Bill 402 would require healthcare facilities to use "plume-scavenging systems" in any setting in which a surgeon's use of an electrocautery device or any other electrosurgical device creates surgical smoke, the article said. 

The bill would also require manufacturers of smoke-evacuation systems to provide evidence that their systems meet specified minimum requirement.

Read the article.