Natural radioactivity contents in tobacco

Abstract

Tobacco contains minute quantities of radioactive isotopes of uranium and thorium series (210Pb, 210Po and 226Ra), which are radioactive carcinogenic. Smoking of tobacco and its products increases the internal intake and radiation dose due to natural radionuclides. In a number of studies, inhalation of some naturally occurring radionuclides via smoking has been considered to be one of the most significant causes of lung cancer. In this work, Moasel tobacco samples were collected from the Saudi and Egypt markets. Natural radionuclides (234Th, 226Ra, 210Pb, 214Bi, 228Ac, 40K and 210Po) in tobacco were measured using γ-ray spectrometer and α-spectrometer. The measured data were presented and discussed. © 2005.