Environmental tobacco smoke
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is the material in indoor air which results from tobacco smoking. Early work on the chemistry of ETS and on estimates of the resulting human exposure relied heavily on studies of sidestream smoke, on the characterization of highly contaminated environments, and on the use of contained experimental atmospheres. It had also been common practice to equate ETS with mainstream smoke for purposes of risk assessments. More recent work has identified potentially important differences between the properties of ETS and those of mainstream smoke. Recent work has also included major surveys of commonly encountered smoking and nonsmoking environments for their indoor air concentrations of, particularly, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and/or respirable suspended particulate matter (RSP). Studies have also now been reported which address the general composition of the particulate and vapor phases of ETS and which measure concentrations of trace and miscellaneous constituents of tobacco smoke in indoor air. The data demonstrate that tobacco smoking clearly contributes to indoor air contamination but that the contribution is often less than was previously assumed for the more-commonly encountered environments. The data also identify difficulties in the use of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and RSP as surrogate measures of ETS as a whole. This paper summarizes recent observation concerning the measurement and concentrations of ETS constituents in indoor air.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Cancer Inst., Bethesda, MD (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10186454
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9209244-1; ON: DE93001376
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Tobacco chemists` research conference,Montreal (Canada),27-30 Sep 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
TOBACCO SMOKES
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BUILDING SYSTEMS
CHEMICALS METABOLISM AND TOXICOLOGY