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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Fan Chen, DrPH¹, Yu-Dan Wei, PhD², and William F. Bina, MD MPH¹. (1) Department of Community Medicine, Mercer University, 1550 College St., Macon, GA 31207, 478-301-4095, fchen@gain.mercer.edu, (2) Master of Public Health Program, Fort Valley State University, 1005 State University Dr., Fort Valley, GA 31030

We estimated the exposure level of formaldehyde in the oral cavity and larynx based on formaldehyde yields in cigarette smoke, and assumptions that the volume of per puff of smoke is 35 ml and there are 10 puffs per cigarette. The formaldehyde yields in mainstream smoke of 50 brands of cigarettes were quoted from Counts et al.

The estimated concentrations of formaldehyde in inhaled smoke before entering the bronchus ranged from 5.6-181.1 ppm for the 50 brands of cigarettes. Formaldehyde is very soluble in water, therefore, a high concentration of formaldehyde may be dissolved in the small amount of respiratory secretions covering the larynx. The dissolved formaldehyde may remain in the secretions during the smoke exhalation process. Thus, the larynx may be exposed to formaldehyde for much longer time than the instant of smoke inhalation and exhalation.. Formaldehyde is carcinogenic to humans (IARC, 2004). Based on the short term limit (STEL) set by OSHA, no employee can be exposed to an airborne concentration of formaldehyde which exceeds 2 ppm as a 15-minute STEL. Epidemiologic studies revealed that the relative risks of larynx cancer were 4.7, 11.2, 18.3, and 45.1 for smokers with the doses of 1-9, 10-20, 31-39 and 40+ cigarettes per day, respectively.

The concentration of formaldehyde on larynx of smokers far exceeds the STEL. It may be one of the major causes that can explain why smokers have a 13.7-fold higher risk of larynx cancer than nonsmokers. Regulating formaldehyde yields in cigarette smoke is necessary.

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