Table 3.

Summary of current findings in contemporary STPs and historic values for radionuclides of the thorium decay series and for potassium-40 and cosmic ray generated radionuclides

Radionuclide	Main radioactive emission mode	Proportion of measured STPs in which radionuclide detected	Range in STPs with detectable levels of radionuclide		Historic radioactivity values in tobacco (mBq/g dwb)	Tobacco type	Country	Date	References
			Radioactivity (mBq/g WWB)	Mass (g/g WWB)
232Th	α	1/70	1	3 × 10−7	0.5–18.4	Various	Various	1973–2012	[20, 21, 90–92]
228Ac	β−	0/73	BLD	BLD	0.4–6.5	Moassel, cigarette	Egypt, Iraq, Switzerland	1963–2009	[28, 29, 71, 93]
228Th	α	47/70	1–9	4–28 × 10−17	BLQ-206	Cigarette, leaf	Russia, Brazil	1972–1994	[20, 94]
212Pb	β−	0/73	BLD	BLD	BLQ-9	Cigarette	Switzerland, Iraq	1971–2009	[28, 29]
212Bi	β−	0/73	BLD	BLD	9.9–17	Cigarette	Iraq	2009	[29]
208Tl	β−	0/73	BLD	BLD	BLQ	Cigarette	Switzerland	1971	[28]
40K	β−	72/73	390–1900	1–7 × 10−6	49–2183	Various	Various	1961–2012	[21, 29, 36, 71, 79, 95–100]
14C	β−	69/73	20–101	1–6 × 10−13	None reported
3H	β−	2/73	29–65	8–18 × 10−17	None reported

BLD below limit of detection, BLQ below limit of quantification