Determination of trace elements in total particulate matter of cigarette smoke by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Trace elements play an important role in the metabolism of the human body. Some of the trace elements are essential, whereas others are toxic and even carcinogenic. Cigarette smoke contains many of these hazardous trace elements. Tobacco samples have been analyzed by the authors for their trace element contents and the results have been reported earlier. This paper presents results on the trace element content analyzed in cigarette smoke using an automatic smoking machine developed in this laboratory to simulate actual smoking pattern. The trace element levels in the total particulate matter samples of the cigarette smoke collected on filter papers were measured and compared with those of cigarette smoke condensate reported in the literature. Both methods of collection give comparable results.