Researchers in the US have developed portable equipment to measure tobacco smoke compounds in public areas.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a complex mixture of compounds, so surrogate measures, or markers, are used to quantify exposure.

Edward Zellers and colleagues, from the University of Michigan, adapted a portable gas chromatograph (GC) to capture 2,5-dimethylfuran and 4-ethenylpyridine and separate them from the other main contaminants in ETS.

The equipment can perform a complete analysis every 15 minutes and ambient air is used as the GC carrier gas to avoid the need to transport gases to the test site.

Zellers' team collected and analysed air samples from a local bowling alley where smoking is permitted. They then used the results to generate a test atmosphere in the laboratory to test the portable equipment.

The tests confirmed that the portable instrument is capable of detecting the two markers at the levels typically found in environmental samples.

Joanna Stevens