Aerosol Emissions from Heated Tobacco Products: A Review Focusing on Carbonyls, Analytical Methods, and Experimental Quality

Abstract

We provide an extensive review of 17 independent and industry-funded studies targeting carbonyls in aerosol emissions of Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs), focusing on quality criteria based on the reproducibility of experiments, appropriate analytic methods, and puffing regimes. Most revised studies complied with these requirements, but some were unreproducible, while others failed to consider analytical variables that may have affected the results and/or produced unrealistic comparisons. We also provide a review of the literature on the physicochemical properties of heated tobacco and HTP aerosols, as well as the evaluation of HTPs by regulatory agencies, addressing various critiques of their relative safety profile. The outcomes from the revised studies and regulatory evaluations tend to agree with and converge to a general consensus that HTP aerosols expose users to significantly lower levels of toxicity than tobacco smoke.

Applying new approach methodologies to assess next-generation tobacco and nicotine products

“…HTPs utilize a specifically designed tobacco rod for use in a corresponding device that consists of a heating element, a battery, and a microprocessor controller. For HTPs to yield emissions with drastically reduced levels of harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) as compared to cigarette smoke, the heating element should only reach temperatures below those leading to combustion of the tobacco rod ( Baker, 1981 ; Malt et al, 2021 ; Lang et al, 2023 ; Sussman et al, 2023 ). The chemical composition of the resulting aerosol is typically significantly simpler than traditional cigarette smoke, with on average 90%–95% reductions in HPHC levels ( Schaller et al, 2016 ; Forster et al, 2018 ).…”

Heated tobacco products: A new challenge for environmental impact assessment

“…These emissions not only affect indoor air quality but also contribute to overall environmental pollution. Recent studies have shown that HTPs may generate environmental pollutants, particularly indoors, which raises concerns about air quality and potential health risks 10,11 .…”