K. Phillips et al., ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO-SMOKE AND RESPIRABLE SUSPENDED PARTICLE EXPOSURES FOR NONSMOKERS IN LISBON BY PERSONAL MONITORING, Environment international, 24(3), 1998, pp. 301-324
One hundred and ninety seven randomly selected nonsmoking subjects col
lected air samples near their breathing zone by wearing personal monit
ors for 24-h. The study was centred in Lisbon, Portugal and comprised
housewives in one group, primarily for assessing exposures in the home
, and office workers in a second group to assess the contribution of t
he workplace to overall exposure. Samples collected were analysed for
respirable suspended particles (RSP), nicotine, 3-ethenylpyridine and
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) particles using ultraviolet absorban
ce, fluorescence and solanesol measurements. Saliva cotinine analyses
were also undertaken to confirm the nonsmoking status of the subjects.
A large proportion of the data was below the limit of quantification
and, apart from housewives from nonsmoking homes, there were few signi
ficant differences noticeable in 24-h time weighted average (TWA) conc
entrations between subject groups. Based on median TWA concentrations
the highest exposed office workers encountered 43 mu g m(-3) RSP, 9.3
mu g m(-3) ETS particles and 0.58 mu g m(-3) nicotine. Overall the wor
kplace contributed the most to nicotine and ETS particle exposure, whe
reas RSP exposure was higher away from the workplace. Annualised expos
ure estimates suggest that the most highly exposed subjects would rece
ive approximately 20 cigarette equivalents per annum based upon upper
decile levels. (C)1998 Elsevier science Ltd.