In pathological examinations, formaldehyde is emitted from specimens that are fixed with formalin. Although local ventilation systems are often used to prevent formaldehyde exposure, they often do not function sufficiently. To appropriately design ventilation equipment in pathology laboratories, it is necessary to estimate the emission rate of formaldehyde. In this study, we measured the emission rate of formaldehyde from formalin-fixed dressed pork and the formalin liquid surface in a test chamber. Additionally, formaldehyde concentrations were measured in the pathology laboratories during actual work, and the formaldehyde emission rate per work point was calculated. Based on the chamber test, the emission rate of both dressed pork and the formalin liquid surface remained constant for 40 minutes after being set up, indicating temperature-dependence in both cases. Furthermore, measurements taken during actual work revealed that the emission rate during tasks such as sectioning ranged from 139 mg/h to 203 mg/h per work point. The emission rate for work involving an opened formalin tank could be determined by adding the emission rate from the formalin liquid surface to the emission rate per work point for sectioning. It was observed that the amount of formaldehyde released could be estimated if the number of work areas and the opening area of the formalin tank were known.

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The number of users of heat-not-burn tobacco (HnB) products and electronic cigarettes (E-cig) is increasing, but few surveys have been conducted on smoking status of HnB and E-cig. We conducted a web-based survey on smoking status in 2018. But the smoking status may be changing due to the increasing the number of type of HnB and E-cig and the amended Health Promotion Law. Therefore, we conducted another web-based survey on smoking of HnB and E-cig in 2021. The respondents of this survey is 1500 smokers and 500 nonsmokers, aged 20-69. Among smokers, 47.2% smoked HnB and 16.5% smoked E-cig, respectively, which increased compared to the 2018 survey results of 39.4% and 15.4%. In the 2018 survey, 30.7% of current smokers used two or more types of cigarettes, and in this study, that percentage was 32.8%. The most smoked HnB brand was IQOS (50.9%), consistent with the 2018 survey results (IQOS, 59.4%), and product was IQOS 3 DUO (35.8%). The average number of cigarettes smoked per week was 73.3 for combustion cigarettes, 50.8 for HnB, and 23.8 for E-cig. Based on the information on smoking status obtained from this study, it is necessary to further conduct research on the measurement of harmful substances in mainstream smoke for each specific product of heated tobacco and electronic cigarettes, as well as conducting health risk assessments that take into account the number of cigarettes smoked for each tobacco type.

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