Dynamics of Gas-Phase Organics in Environmental Tobacco Smoke
The Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) administered by the University of California sponsors research to further their mission, which is to reduce the human and economic costs of tobacco use by reducing the incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of tobacco-related diseases in California. The PSD&C group has conducted several TRDRP sponsored projects. The current project, which was initiated by Joan Daisey and will be completed in FY 2002, is investigating the dynamics of indoor exposures to gas-phase organic compounds in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). A series of experiments were conducted to measure the concentrations of ETS organic vapors, including toxic and tracer compounds, under varied daily smoking levels, ventilation rates and furnishing levels in a simulated indoor environment. Exposure-relevant emission factors (EREFs), which include the effects of adsorption and re-emission over a 24-h period, were calculated by mass balance. Ventilation rate and furnishing level reduced the EREFs for commonly used ETS tracers and low volatility toxic VOCs such as phenol and naphthalene. Another series of experiments were conducted in the same environment in which cigarettes were smoked daily (three hours per day) over a period of four weeks. Each experiment was conducted at a different smoking and/or ventilation rate. Short-term adsorption of low volatility compounds to surfaces reduced concentrations and potential exposures during smoking, while later re-emission increased concentrations and exposures hours after smoking ended. For sorbing compounds, more than half of the daily potential exposures occurred during nonsmoking periods.
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http://www.ucop.edu/srphome/trdrp/welcome.html
Contacts: Al Hodgson, Brett Singer