ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 823

smoke exhaled by the actual smoker, but also inhale the smoke emitted from the lit cigarette. It
is claimed that the passive smokers are exposed to a higher and worse degree of contaminants
compared to the active smoker.
A more specific research conducted by Edwards et al. (2014) is an experiment carried out on rats
to test the effect of nicotine doses on males and females. The study is a reaction to the rising issue
of smoking for boys and girls aged between 12 and 14. The study concludes that the effects of
nicotine, especially that of depression and anxiety is great in females compared to males. Due to
the scarce amount of research in highly specific tobacco related contaminants in an indoor environment, Böhlandt et al. (2012) conducted a field study over a period of one year, testing indoor
residential and hospitality venues where a number of smokers and non-smokers occupy the spaces. The three types of contaminants that were tested for quantifying are lanthanum, cerium and
cadmium. The results showed that the two contaminants, which have been causing severe health
damages for people in a space, are cerium and lanthanum. Their research is served as a base map
for further studies to be developed on this matter.
Liu et al. (2014) discussed the process of banning indoor public smoking in China through The
World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2006,
which became controversial, as it never was strictly implemented. Around the same time, there
came the invention of the e-cigarettes in the European market, which soon had spread through
other international markets as well (Geiss et al. 2014).
E-cigarettes
It is worthwhile to trace the beginning of the e-cigarettes. Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, invented the e-cigarettes in 2003 and this product was first sold by a Chinese electronic dealer in 2007.
Since then, the use of e-cigarettes grew rapidly worldwide as a healthier alternative to tobacco
cigarettes (Bell and Keane 2012). A rise in the use of e-cigarettes in indoor environments has become a subject of interest for researchers. Ballbè et al. (2014) identified the lack of detailed research in comparing the health effects of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Through an experiment, of
testing indoor spaces of cigarette smokers and e-cigarette smokers, two factors have been tested
for degrees of contamination due to smoking; airborne nicotine levels and biomarkers (nicotine
contaminations found in saliva and in urine). The results proved that the cigarette smokers are
exposed to airborne contaminants five times more than the e-cigarette smokers are. However,
both smokers are equal in the biomarkers. During the years that e-cigarettes have been commercialized, one of their winning factors was that the refills come in two types; nicotine based and
non-nicotine based.
According to a study conducted by Charlotta Pisinger and Martin Døssing (2014), after analyzing
76 previous studies compiled by different researchers, electronic cigarettes is still not considered
as a safe mean of smoking. Amongst the findings, 34% of errors in the methodologies have been
found which argue otherwise. It is known, through examination and analysis, that the vapor emitted from the electronic cigarettes contains ultrafine particles, such as VOCs, carcinogenic carbonyls, hazardous metals, and most of what is present in conventional cigarettes. However, there is
a substance which is unique to the electronic cigarettes that is propylene glycol. It is concluded
that the electronic cigarettes cannot be considered harmless by any means, but nevertheless,
for a smoker to transition between smoking and quitting, the electronic cigarettes are known to
be the safest. On the other hand, for non-smokers, the electronic cigarettes can be considered
harmful.

The impact of smoking on indoor air quality in hospitality venues

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