Soulet Sebastien, Sussman Roberto A
Ingesciences, 2 Chemin des Arestieux, 33610 Cestas, France.
Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City 04510, Mexico.
Toxics. 2022 Aug 29;10(9):510. doi: 10.3390/toxics10090510.
The inhalation of metallic compounds in e-cigarette (EC) aerosol emissions presents legitimate concerns of potential harms for users. We provide a critical review of laboratory studies published after 2017 on metal contents in EC aerosol, focusing on the consistency between their experimental design, real life device usage and appropriate evaluation of exposure risks. All experiments reporting levels above toxicological markers for some metals (e.g., nickel, lead, copper, manganese) exhibited the following experimental flaws: (i) high powered sub-ohm tank devices tested by means of puffing protocols whose airflows and puff volumes are conceived and appropriate for low powered devices; this testing necessarily involves overheating conditions that favor the production of toxicants and generate aerosols that are likely repellent to human users; (ii) miscalculation of exposure levels from experimental outcomes; (iii) pods and tank devices acquired months and years before the experiments, so that corrosion effects cannot be ruled out; (iv) failure to disclose important information on the characteristics of pods and tank devices, on the experimental methodology and on the resulting outcomes, thus hindering the interpretation of results and the possibility of replication. In general, low powered devices tested without these shortcomings produced metal exposure levels well below strict reference toxicological markers. We believe this review provides useful guidelines for a more objective risk assessment of EC aerosol emissions and signals the necessity to upgrade current laboratory testing standards.
吸入电子烟(EC)气溶胶排放物中的金属化合物引发了人们对使用者潜在危害的合理担忧。我们对2017年之后发表的关于电子烟气溶胶中金属含量的实验室研究进行了批判性综述,重点关注其实验设计、实际设备使用情况以及暴露风险评估之间的一致性。所有报告某些金属(如镍、铅、铜、锰)含量高于毒理学指标的实验均存在以下实验缺陷:(i)通过抽吸方案测试高功率子欧姆雾化器设备,其气流和抽吸量的设计适合低功率设备;这种测试必然涉及过热条件,有利于有毒物质的产生,并产生可能令使用者反感的气溶胶;(ii)根据实验结果错误计算暴露水平;(iii)在实验前数月乃至数年购置雾化弹和雾化器设备,因此无法排除腐蚀影响;(iv)未披露关于雾化弹和雾化器设备特性、实验方法及所得结果的重要信息,从而妨碍了结果的解读及重复实验的可能性。总体而言,无上述缺陷的低功率设备产生的金属暴露水平远低于严格的参考毒理学指标。我们认为本综述为更客观地评估电子烟气溶胶排放风险提供了有用的指导方针,并表明有必要提升当前的实验室测试标准。