TY - JOUR
T1 - Exposure to nitrosamines in thirdhand tobacco smoke increases cancer risk in non-smokers
AU - Ramírez, Noelia
AU - Özel, Mustafa Z.
AU - Lewis, Alastair C.
AU - Marcé, Rosa M.
AU - Borrull, Francesc
AU - Hamilton, Jacqueline F.
N1 - Funding Information:
NR, MZO, ACL and JFH want to acknowledge the financial support of the UK Natural Environment Research Council (Grant NE/J008532/1 ) and FB and RMM the support of the Direcció General de Recerca of the Government of Catalonia through project 2009SGR223 . The authors acknowledge Dr J. Ferré for the statistical discussions, Dr M. Pedrouzo for the lab assistance and the householders of the selected homes for their kind help on collecting the settled dust samples and answering the survey.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - In addition to passive inhalation, non-smokers, and especially children, are exposed to residual tobacco smoke gases and particles that are deposited to surfaces and dust, known as thirdhand smoke (THS). However, until now the potential cancer risks of this pathway of exposure have been highly uncertain and not considered in public health policy. In this study, we estimate for the first time the potential cancer risk by age group through non-dietary ingestion and dermal exposure to carcinogen N-nitrosamines and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) measured in house dust samples. Using a highly sensitive and selective analytical approach we have determined the presence of nicotine, eight N-nitrosamines and five tobacco-specific nitrosamines in forty-six settled dust samples from homes occupied by both smokers and non-smokers. Using observations of house dust composition, we have estimated the cancer risk by applying the most recent official toxicological information. Calculated cancer risks through exposure to the observed levels of TSNAs at an early life stage (1 to 6. years old) exceeded the upper-bound risk recommended by the USEPA in 77% of smokers' and 64% of non-smokers' homes. The maximum risk from exposure to all nitrosamines measured in a smoker occupied home was one excess cancer case per one thousand population exposed.The results presented here highlight the potentially severe long-term consequences of THS exposure, particularly to children, and give strong evidence of its potential health risk and, therefore, they should be considered when developing future environmental and health policies.
AB - In addition to passive inhalation, non-smokers, and especially children, are exposed to residual tobacco smoke gases and particles that are deposited to surfaces and dust, known as thirdhand smoke (THS). However, until now the potential cancer risks of this pathway of exposure have been highly uncertain and not considered in public health policy. In this study, we estimate for the first time the potential cancer risk by age group through non-dietary ingestion and dermal exposure to carcinogen N-nitrosamines and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) measured in house dust samples. Using a highly sensitive and selective analytical approach we have determined the presence of nicotine, eight N-nitrosamines and five tobacco-specific nitrosamines in forty-six settled dust samples from homes occupied by both smokers and non-smokers. Using observations of house dust composition, we have estimated the cancer risk by applying the most recent official toxicological information. Calculated cancer risks through exposure to the observed levels of TSNAs at an early life stage (1 to 6. years old) exceeded the upper-bound risk recommended by the USEPA in 77% of smokers' and 64% of non-smokers' homes. The maximum risk from exposure to all nitrosamines measured in a smoker occupied home was one excess cancer case per one thousand population exposed.The results presented here highlight the potentially severe long-term consequences of THS exposure, particularly to children, and give strong evidence of its potential health risk and, therefore, they should be considered when developing future environmental and health policies.
KW - Cancer risk assessment
KW - N-nitrosamines
KW - Thirdhand tobacco smoke
KW - Tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904294323&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2014.06.012
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2014.06.012
M3 - Article
C2 - 25036615
AN - SCOPUS:84904294323
SN - 0160-4120
VL - 71
SP - 139
EP - 147
JO - Environment International
JF - Environment International
ER -