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The inorganic fraction in e-liquids used in vapor products including e-cigarettes

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Abstract

Nowadays, e-cigarettes are largely used, they are considered less dangerous than the traditional cigarettes. Actually, there are a lot of investigations on the health effects of nanoparticles and smoke emitted by them whereas there are very few studies on the e-liquid composition. For the first time this paper would like to investigate the inorganic composition of the e-liquids at different nicotine content (0, 9 and 18 mg mL−1) by means of the instrumental nuclear activation analysis. More than 20 elements at trace/ultra-trace levels were determined: elements such as Na, W, Br, Fe and Co show similar distribution in all the samples, toxic elements as As, Ni and Sb are at μg kg−1 levels whereas Hg is present only in the sample at 0 mg mL−1 nicotine (0.56 µg kg−1). Further, based on transfer rate data of some metals from tobacco to smoke, an evaluation of inhaled element amount during a single vape is also reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Via F. De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, Italy

    Pasquale Avino

  2. Institute of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Sciences, Kolkata, 700156, India

    Pasquale Avino

  3. National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Anguillarese 301, 00123, Rome, Italy

    Alberto Rosada

  4. Department of Technological Innovations, National Institute for Insurance Against Accidents at Work, Via Roberto Ferruzzi 38/40, 00143, Rome, Italy

    Maurizio Manigrasso

Authors
  1. Pasquale Avino
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  2. Alberto Rosada
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  3. Maurizio Manigrasso
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Correspondence to Pasquale Avino.

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Avino, P., Rosada, A. & Manigrasso, M. The inorganic fraction in e-liquids used in vapor products including e-cigarettes. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 322, 423–430 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06762-9

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