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CORESTA Meeting, Smoke Science/Product Technology, 2017, Kitzbühel, STPOST 08

Indoor air quality and surface deposition assessment following use of an open system e-cigarette

BAUER N.(1); TSCHIERSKE N.(1); O'CONNELL G.(2); CAHOURS X.(3)
(1) Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH (an Imperial Brands PLC Company), Hamburg, Germany; (2) Fontem Ventures B.V. (an Imperial Brands PLC Company), Amsterdam, The Netherlands; (3) SEITA-Imperial Tobacco Limited, Fleury-les-Aubrais, France

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) nicotine delivery devices are growing in popularity worldwide. Both regulators and public health organisations are beginning to examine potential implications that exposure to exhaled e-cigarette aerosol may have on non-users in workplaces and enclosed public spaces. To our knowledge, no study assessing the potential impact of exhaled e-cigarette aerosols on indoor air quality and surface deposition following use of open system e-cigarettes has been reported. In the present study we aimed to understand the contribution of exhaled aerosols to the pre-existing load with chemicals in ambient indoor air and the potential deposition of nicotine to indoor surfaces before, during and after unrestricted use of a blu™ open system e-cigarette.

Our results indicate that use of the blu™ open system e-cigarette when used ad libitum by three experienced vapers for almost two hours did not negatively impact the indoor ambient air for all chemicals analysed when compared to regulatory indoor air quality guidelines. Moreover, the use of the open system e-cigarette in this study did not lead to a measurable increase in nicotine levels or the subsequent formation of TSNAs on the indoor surfaces. Our investigations suggest that the use of the blu™ open system e-cigarette is unlikely to pose a concern to bystanders in this regard.