Variations in the estimation of the contribution of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) to respirable (<= 5 mu m) indoor air particulates obtained by the use of different analytical methods

Several methods are in use for the identification of the contribution of pa rticulate associated environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and sidestream smoke to an atmosphere. These include the measurement of respirable suspended pa rticulates (RSP), measurements of the total UV absorption and total fluores cence emission of a methanol extract of collected particulates and the use of specific marker compounds such as solanesol and scopoletin. Use of these methods gave values for the contribution of particulate ETS to total respi rable (less than or equal to5 mum) particulates in the ranges 8.3-124.7% fo r smokers' houses and 9.6-121.2% for smokers' offices, respectively. Howeve r, using what we consider to be the most reliable methodology, based on the measurement of solanesol, the average contribution of particulate ETS to t otal respirable (less than or equal to5 mum) particulates for smokers' hous es was 21.7% and for smokers' offices was 23.3%.