An Assessment of Indoor Air Quality before, during and after Unrestricted Use of E-Cigarettes in a Small Room

Grant O'Connell, Stéphane Colard, Xavier Cahours and John D. Pritchard
Additional contact information
Grant O'Connell: Fontem Ventures B.V., Barbara Strozzilaan 101 12th Floor, HN Amsterdam 1083, The Netherlands
Stéphane Colard: SEITA–Imperial Tobacco Group, 48 rue Danton, Fleury-les-Aubrais 45404, France
Xavier Cahours: SEITA–Imperial Tobacco Group, 48 rue Danton, Fleury-les-Aubrais 45404, France
John D. Pritchard: Imperial Tobacco Limited, 121 Winterstoke Road, Bristol BS3 2LL, UK

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-19

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.

Keywords: e-cigarette; indoor air quality; bystander exposure; exhaled aerosol; ambient air (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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