Pb-210 concentrations in cigarettes tobaccos and radiation doses to the smokers

Cigarette smoking is a source of radiation exposure due to the concentrations of natural radionuclides in the tobacco leaves. From the health point of view, measurement of 210Pb and 210Po contents in cigarette tobacco is important to assess the radiological effects associated with the tobacco smoking for the smokers. In the present study, activity concentrations of 210Pb, which is a 210Po precursor in the 238U-decay series, were measured in cigarette tobaccos. Samples of nine different commonly sold brands of cigarette tobaccos were analysed by employing a planar high purity germanium (HPGe) low background detector. Activity concentrations of 210Pb were measured from its gamma peak at 47 keV. Mean activity concentration of 210Pb was measured to be 13 ± 4 Bq kg-1 from all samples analysed. The annual committed effective dose for a smoker and the collective committed effective dose corresponding to annual cigarettes production were estimated to be 64 ± 20 μSv and 0.6 x 102 man-Sv, respectively. (authors)