Air quality assessment of the Tobacco Heating System 2.2 under simulated residential conditions

Maya I Mitova,Emmanuel G R Rouget,Manuel Tharin,Pedro B Campelos,Noel Bielik,Maria Gomez Lueso,Josée Polier-Calame,Michel Rotach,Serge Maeder,Vladimir Zaugg,Mathieu Schaller,Laurent Poget,Chantal Pitton,Catherine G Goujon-Ginglinger,Anne Jaquier,Camille Cluse

doi:10.1007/s11869-019-00697-6

Maya I Mitova, Emmanuel G R Rouget + Show 14 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-019-00697-6

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Abstract

Despite the growing popularity of new alternatives to traditional tobacco products, there is still limited evidence on their indoor effect in particular in residential spaces as specific environments where enforcement of air quality standards is difficult. Hence, the impact of the Tobacco Heating System 2.2 (THS, marketed as IQOS®) on indoor air quality was assessed under controlled experimental conditions using ventilation representative of residential buildings with natural ventilation. Smoking of cigarettes (Marlboro Gold®) at the same ventilation conditions and consumption rates was used as positive control. Before each THS 2.2 or Marlboro Gold session, a background session with the same volunteers as for the product-use session was held. In the high-load simulated residential environment, out of the 24 measured airborne constituents, only the increase of the indoor concentrations of nicotine, acetaldehyde, and glycerin above the background was attributable to the use of THS 2.2. The quantified concentrations of these three airborne compounds were significantly below the harmful levels defined in the air quality guidelines. Smoking Marlboro Gold resulted in much greater increases in the concentrations of all measured indoor air constituents, except for glycerin, and the indoor concentrations of several constituents exceeded the exposure levels set forth by cognizant authorities. Based on these data, it is reasonable to conclude that the use of THS 2.2 in environments where norms for indoor exposure in terms of adequate ventilation are respected does not adversely affect the overall indoor air quality.

Highlights

A global decline in the rate of cigarette smoking has been observed in recent years
Consistent with the results for the previously investigated simulated environments (Mitova et al 2016), nicotine, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, benzene, isoprene, and toluene were quantified in the background and during sessions with THS 2.2, together with the newly measured TVOC, while glycerin was present in air only in the sessions with THS 2.2 use (Table 1 and Supplementary Tables S3–S4)
2.40 0.543 0.945 0.612 1.98 7.74 1.96 0.207 4.44 0.309 0.964 0.783 8.53 2.07 19.4 1.33 22.6 2.72E-04 1.07E-04 343 343 1.34 32.2 32.6 a For the descriptive statistics, refer to Supplementary Table S3 and Table S4 b Summary of mean and standard deviation for the experiments with THS 2.2 controlled consumption and the respective background; for mean and standard deviation for the experiments with THS 2.2 ad libitum consumption refer to supplementary Table S3 c All means measured below lower working range limit (LWRL) are displayed as B

Summary

Introduction

A global decline in the rate of cigarette smoking has been observed in recent years This has not translated into a smaller number of smokers. Concentrations in ETS of Marlboro Gold were more than one order of magnitude higher than those in background air and environmental aerosols of THS 2.2 (range minimum-maximum: < 3.91–5.16 μg/m3 for background, 5.92–10.9 μg/m3 for THS 2.2, 106–140 μg/m3 for Marlboro Gold; Supplementary Table S3). Under BResidential category III^ environmental conditions, results close to those of formaldehyde were obtained for benzene, isoprene, toluene, and TVOC (in toluene equivalents), and the concentrations of these compounds were similar in the background and THS 2.2 sessions, while they increased by at least one order of magnitude when Marlboro Gold was used indoors (Table 1, Supplementary Table S3)

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