Comparison of environmental tobacco smoke concentrations and mutagenicity for several indoor environments

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major source for indoor air pollutio n. Although ETS-caused indoor air pollution has been well studied in the de veloped countries, few studies have examined ETS indoor air pollution in Ch ina, which currently has the largest population of tobacco smokers. In this study, respirable-particulate (RP) from ETS-contaminated (RP-ETS) indoor a ir was collected and measured in 5 different indoor environments during the winter in the northwestern Liaoning province, China. The extractable porti on of RP-ETS (ERP-ETS) was obtained by dichloromethane extraction and used in the Salmonella mutagenicity assay in the presence of S9 using strains TA 98, TA100, and TA1538, The percentage of RP-ETS attributable to ET (ETS-RP) and the percentage of ERP-ETS attributable to ETS (ETS-ERP) were estimated by measuring the concentration of solanesol, an ETS marker. Comparative re sults in 5 different indoor environments were: (1) the concentration of RP- ETS ranged from 197.3 to 1227.6 mu g/m(3) and approximately 64.7 to 92.0% o f the RP-ETS originated fi om ETS; (2) the concentration of ERP-ETS ranged 88.8 to 601.5 mu g/m(3) and approximately 83.1 to 95.4% of the ERP-ETS orig inated from ETS; (3) the mutagenic potency (revertants/m(3)) of ERP-ETS ran ged from 60.4 to 595.5 for TA98, from 33.7 to 312.8 for TA100, and from 49. 7 to 475.2 for TA1538. The data indicate that the extent of ETS pollution a nd the potential health hazards of ETS to humans in the five indoor environ ments are in the following increasing order: rural bedrooms, urban living r ooms, office rooms, restaurants, and passenger cars in that area. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.