A clerk at an e-cigarette store in Seoul introduces products on Oct. 23, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study showed that liquid-based e-cigarettes emit more ultrafine dust than regular cigarettes.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency photographed smoke and aerosols emitted from cigarettes to analyze their chemical composition, for the first time in the country, between September of last year and May.
The results showed that liquid-based e-cigarettes emitted 172,845 micrograms (㎍) of ultrafine dust per 0.2 grams of liquid, 12 times more than what was emitted by non-electronic cigarettes.
Heated e-cigarettes emitted 3,100 ㎍ of ultrafine dust per cigarette, lower than emissions from non-electronic cigarettes.
Over the course of three minutes, the ultrafine dust emitted by liquid-based e-cigarettes spread as far as 10 meters, heated e-cigarettes to between 6 and 7 meters and non-electronic cigarettes to 3 meters.
The study also showed that all three kinds of cigarettes emit black carbon, a substance similar to the black stains from car emissions.
Non-electronic cigarettes contained the highest concentrations of black carbon, which was also found in liquid-based e-cigarettes (98.8 ㎍ per piece) and heated e-cigarettes (11.41 ㎍ per piece).
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
