Review of toxic metals in tobacco cigarette brands and risk assessment

Abstract

The act of tobacco smoking cigarettes is linked to the development of lung cancer, which accounts for around 90 % of lung cancers in the world. This paper reviewed 76 articles on harmful heavy metals in tobacco cigarette brands and associated health risk assessment. This comprehensive examination involved searching targeted databases across multiple search engines, such as Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed and Research Gate, published in English from 2000 to September 2024. The mean heavy metals concentrations are 2.9, 10.5, 4.5, 7.9 and 3.5 mg/kg for Cd, Pb, Cr, As and Hg, respectively. Related mean hazard quotient (HQ $)$ for non-carcinogenic ingestion and inhalation were determined. HQ for ingestion and inhalation were < 1 and > 1, respectively. HQ $>1$ for all metal inhalation, which signifies considerable health risk. The risk of cancer for ingestion of all metals is in the acceptable limit below 1E-04, while the risk of cancer for inhalation of all metals is in the unacceptable range. Additional research on toxic heavy metals in tobacco cigarette brands from diverse countries is necessary to arrive at conclusive mean risks for each specific toxic heavy metal.