Fundamental Toxicological Sciences

Paper Details

Fundamental Toxicological Sciences
Vol. 8 No. 4 September 08, 2021 p.117-122
Original Article
Health risk assessment on mercury, cadmium and lead in marketed cigarettes
  • Koji Arizono (Faculty of Environmental and Symbiotic Sciences, Prefectural University of Kumamoto / arizono@pu-kumamoto.ac.jp)
Quang Phan Dinh 1) 3) , Sylvester Addai-Arhin 1) , Randy Novirsa 1) , Huiho Jeong1 1) , Willy Cahya Nugraha 1) , Pham Hung Viet 3) , Nobuaki Tominaga 4) , Yasuhiro Ishibashi 2) , Koji Arizono 2)
1) Graduate School of Environmental and Symbiotic Sciences, Prefectural University of Kumamoto , 2) Faculty of Environmental and Symbiotic Sciences, Prefectural University of Kumamoto , 3) VNU University of Science, Vietnam National University, Vietnam , 4) Department of Creative Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Ariake College
Keywords: Marketed cigarettes, Health risk, Mercury, Cadmium, Lead
Abstracts

The Hg, Cd, and Pb concentrations in marketed cigarettes from South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), Belgium, Italy, Finland, and France were investigated. The average Hg concentration in cigarettes marketed in Vietnam and Thailand had the highest trend. Meanwhile, there was more Cd found in cigarettes from Thailand, UK, and Belgium. The Pb concentrations in cigarettes from Belgium, UK, and Korea were higher than in others. In the health risk assessment in this study, the significant non-carcinogenic health risk (HI) values of Hg, Cd, and Pb were investigated. The results showed that the HI of Hg, Cd, and Pb were 4.12 × 10−2, 4.07 × 101, and 9.78 × 100, respectively. It indicated that only Cd and Pb had a significant HI. When the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) was estimated, the ILCRs for both Cd (7.32 × 10−4) and Pb (0.88 × 10−5) in cigarettes were higher than the acceptable limit. The acceptable and significant cancer risks for Pb and Cd, respectively were evaluated in cigarettes used in this study.