Advocating for surgical smoke evacuation

Editor's Note

This year has been busy for smoke evacuation legislation, with several states including North Carolina and Delaware signing mandatory surgical smoke evacuation into law. Work in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Michigan recently shared about in an AORN legislative update provides a snapshot of what it can take to educate legislators on the dangers of surgical smoke.

In Oklahoma, advocates responded to several questions posed by the committee members about costs and availability of equipment, also conveying that surgical smoke evacuation is important to Oklahoma’s recruitment and retention of operating room nurses and staff.

In Wisconsin, nurse experts testified in support of surgical smoke evacuation policy. They urged consideration of a request by the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) to amend the bill to strengthen the provisions to protect the health and safety of OR staff and patients.

In Michigan, nurse experts testified in support of proposed smoke evacuation legislation by sharing their personal stories of exposure to the hazards present in surgical smoke. Experts also demonstrated how surgical smoke evacuation technology works to protect the health and safety of the operating room team.

As of the end of 2025, these 20 states have current smoke evacuation law on the books: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.