Abstract
Airborne chemicals in the indoor environment arise from a wide variety of sources such as burning fuels and cooking, construction materials and furniture, environmental tobacco smoke as well as outdoor sources. To understand the contribution of exhaled e-cigarette aerosol to the pre-existing chemicals in the ambient air, an indoor air quality study was conducted to measure volatile organic compounds (including nicotine and low molecular weight carbonyls), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tobacco-specific nitrosamines and trace metal levels in the air before, during and after e-cigarette use in a typical small office meeting room. Measurements were compared with human Health Criteria Values, such as indoor air quality guidelines or workplace exposure limits where established, to provide a context for potential bystander exposures. In this study, the data suggest that any additional chemicals present in indoor air from the exhaled e-cigarette aerosol, are unlikely to present an air quality issue to bystanders at the levels measured when compared to the regulatory standards that are used for workplaces or general indoor air quality.
Highlights
In recent years, the use of electronic cigarettes has increased significantly worldwide with such products gaining acceptance with consumers as an alternative to traditional tobacco products
The present study offers an indoor air quality assessment by an independent, UKAS accredited laboratory following use of a disposable ‘closed’ system e-cigarette in a real life setting
Since this was not a long-term repeated exposure study; in providing a context, findings were related to indoor air quality guidelines, where available
Summary
The use of electronic cigarettes ( termed “vaping”) has increased significantly worldwide with such products gaining acceptance with consumers as an alternative to traditional tobacco products. Of the few studies that have been undertaken to investigate the impact of e-cigarette emissions on indoor air quality, it has been reported that nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerol (the components of e-liquids), amongst other chemical compounds including volatile organic compounds, low molecular weight carbonyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and trace metals, may be released into the air during use of e-cigarettes [10,11,12,13,14,15]. As no validated, standardized protocol is available for measuring exhaled e-cigarette emissions, the limited number of analytical investigations published above differ in environmental conditions and experimental set-up making it difficult to compare their findings and to determine the impact of e-cigarette use on the indoor ambient air. The experimental approach presented here may be useful to compare the chemicals released into the ambient air from different e-cigarettes used in different indoor environments
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