Publication date 12/19/2011 - 00:00 Modification date 04/20/2021 - 14:00

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVMNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment ) conducts research on the composition of tobacco products. This includes research on tobacco additives. Yearly tobacco manufacturers send their tobacco ingredient lists to RIVM.

RIVM coordinated the European project PITOC (Public Information Tobacco Control). Factsheets have been prepared on tobacco ingredients for professionals and the public. See PITOC factsheets.

New publication in Inhalation Toxicology on risk assessment of components in tobacco smoke and e-cigarette aerosols

Smoking is characterized by a highly varying, intermittent exposure and the challenge is to choose the most appropriate dose metric. Generally, average daily exposure estimates are used as dose metric, without considering temporal determinants. Using average daily exposure estimates for the smoking scenario can lead to erroneous risk evaluations for several reasons. Inhaled peak air concentrations during a puff can be two to three orders of magnitude higher than the calculated average daily inhaled concentration, which may impact the assessment of both systemic and local health effects. A pragmatic risk assessment is proposed, based on the Margin of Exposure (MoE) approach. The choice of an appropriate dose metric, such as inhaled concentration, inhaled dose or absorbed dose, depends on the type of effect. Temporal characteristics should be considered in the final step of the MoE approach, as is illustrated by two cases, glycerol and benzene.

Read more

More information