Risk assessment and modeling of heavy metals in universal and local types of tobaccos

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to assess the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks from heavy metals in five types of local and universal tobacco through inhalation exposure.The demographic and anthropometric data of 200 participants were investigated and the heavy metals concentrations in tobaccos were determined using inductively coupled plasma- optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Due to the lower employment rate, the results showed females have a high tendency to consume tobacco.The order of heavy metals concentrations in tobaccos was Fe > Mn > Zn > As > Cd > Cr > Cu > Ni > Co. The sum of heavy metals concentration in Borazjani, Jaski, Lengehee, apple, and mint was 3553.80, 2372.62, 2197.31, 764.20, and 574.05 mg/kg, respectively. The Kruskal-Wallis analysis showed heavy metal concentrations were statistically significant between different tobaccos (p-value < 0.05). The hazard index (HI) values for Borazjani, Jaski, mint, Lengehee, and apple tobaccos in males were 2.79, 2.57, 2.32, 2.13, and 1.48, respectively. The carcinogenic risk or incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values for Borazjani, apple, Lengehee, Jaski, and mint was 5.48 × 10⁻⁰⁴, 5.36 × 10⁻⁰⁴, 4.47 × 10⁻⁰⁴, 3.60 × 10⁻⁰⁴, and 3.07 × 10⁻⁰⁴, respectively.Based on EPA guidelines, the investigated tobaccos can cause non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks for consumers. Thus, it is necessary to regularly monitor the quality of prevalent tobacco to reduce the levels of human health risks.

KEYWORDS:

• Tobacco
• waterpipe
• heavy metals
• health risk assessment
• carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledged funding from the Abadan University of Medical Science with project No. 98U594.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences [98U594].