Composition of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) from international cigarettes and determination of ETS-RSP: Particulate marker ratios

A survey of the environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) generated by cigarettes from 11 countries was performed. The countries included: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The six leading brand styles from each country were smoked in an environmental test chamber. Concentration of the gas phase ETS components CO, NO, NO,, nicotine, 3-ethenylpyridine, myosmine, and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) were measured. Particle mass concentrations were also measured along with the particulate phase markers: ultraviolet particulate matter (UVPM), fluorescent particulate matter (FPM), and solanesol. Qualitatively, the ETS generated by simultaneously smoking the six leading cigarettes did not differ greatly among countries. Apportionment factors for the particulate markers were determined for each country. Ratios of gravimetrically determined respirable suspended particles (RSP) to the surrogate standard concentrations for UVPM and FPM averaged 8.2 and 45, respectively. The average ratio of respirable suspended particles (RSP) to solanesol was 43. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.