Reported by Tom Walker

Smoking or non-smoking? It's a question we all get whenever we visit restaurants. Now it seems that either answer could mean problems for your health.

This study is being presented to one of the biggest gatherings of anti-smoking activists ever held in the nation's capitol. It was designed to answer one basic question: Are the smoke-free areas of restaurants really any healthier than those where it's okay to light up.?

Volunteers from an anti-smoking group in Indiana took air samples from the non-smoking areas of 74 restaurants. They found the concentrations of nicotine were higher than what you would find in the home of a smoker, even in restaurants where there are separate rooms for smokers.

Activists from Ohio say it confirms what they already believed.

"Some people say maybe I'll get a heart attack in 20 years. No that's not the issue, you might get a heart attack later that evening. We need people to understand what the physiology is, what the impact of this substance is," said Michael Renner, Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention.

This may or may not affect the debate over new smoke-free laws. Critics of those laws say there's not much new here. They say the public still has to balance health considerations with the economic impact of those laws.