Assessment of nicotine for second hand smoke exposure in some public places in Romania by UPLC-MS.
BACKGROUND
Air nicotine monitoring is a well-known procedure for estimation of exposure to second hand smoke. Few research studies were realized in Romania to evaluate environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure of humans in different public places. The levels of airborne nicotine from environmental tobacco smoke and urinary cotinine and nicotine levels of some subjects were analyzed. In order to better implement/enforce the European legislation regarding the interdiction of smoking in the public places the national authorities need a rapid and reliable analytical method to quickly asses the state of the pollution with cigarette smoke of these populated areas.


RESULTS
The nicotine concentration in the air from different types of public buildings was determined. The median concentration of nicotine in the air from 32 pubs where the smoking was allowed was 590 ng · L(-1), comparing with the pubs where the smoking was not permitted (22 locations) where the median concentration of nicotine was only 32 ng · L(-1). Similarly, the median concentration of nicotine in restaurants where the smoking was allowed (23 locations) was 510 ng · L(-1), in comparison with the restaurants where the smoking was prohibited (11 places) where the median value was 19 ng · L(-1). The lowest concentrations of nicotine were found in high schools (8 locations, median concentration 7.4 ng · L(-1)), universities (5 locations, 23 ng · L(-1)) and hospitals (6 locations, 16 ng · L(-1)).


CONCLUSIONS
The method was validated and gave good linearity, precision, accuracy and limit of detection. The buildings included hospitals, high schools, universities, pubs and restaurants. The presence of air nicotine was recorded in all buildings studied. The highest median levels of air nicotine were found in pubs and restaurants. The presence of air nicotine in indoor public buildings indicates weak implementation of the smoke free law in Romania.
West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Faculty of Chemistry - Biology -Geography, Advanced Research Environmental Laboratories, Oituz str. 4, Timisoara 300086, Romania ; National Institute of Public Health, Regional Center of Public Health, Timisoara, Victor Babes str. 16, Timisoara 300226, Romania.
Alina
A
Bratan
West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Faculty of Chemistry - Biology -Geography, Advanced Research Environmental Laboratories, Oituz str. 4, Timisoara 300086, Romania.
Manuela Maria
MM
Mincea
National Institute of Public Health, Regional Center of Public Health, Timisoara, Victor Babes str. 16, Timisoara 300226, Romania.
Ioana-Rodica
IR
Lupşa
West University of Timisoara, Multidisciplinary Research Platform "Nicholas Georges - Roegen", Oituz str. 4, Timisoara 300086, Romania.
Marilen-Gabriel
MG
Pirtea
West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Faculty of Chemistry - Biology -Geography, Advanced Research Environmental Laboratories, Oituz str. 4, Timisoara 300086, Romania ; West University of Timisoara, Multidisciplinary Research Platform "Nicholas Georges - Roegen", Oituz str. 4, Timisoara 300086, Romania.
Vasile
V
Ostafe
Air; Cotinine; ETS; Nicotine; UPLC–MS