**1. Introduction**

Smoking of different tobacco products is increasing rapidly throughout the world. Smoking causes many health problems. Cigarette consumption is one of the major reasons for mortality in the world. During the tobacco plantation, various kinds of pesticides, fungicides and herbicide are used to cope with the different diseases and parasites [1]. Galazyn-Sidorczuk et al. [2] also stated that tobacco plant has a high tendency to uptake metals from soils and accumulate them in leaves. Tobacco plants can normally accumulate metals like Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, and Cu that comes in cigarettes which are variable in the concentration of metals in soil and applied chemicals; tobacco plant have different levels of metals in different

countries. Due to these reasons, tobacco is contaminated with different toxic metals and chemical compounds. Many studies reported that tobacco smoke is toxic, carcinogenic, and genotoxic. Cigarette smoke contains 4000 identified toxic chemical compounds that are potentially harmful to human health [1].

Various metallic and nonmetallic elements and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, mercury, antimony, etc. are present in tobacco. Biological samples from the bodies of people who use cigarette have been identified with a higher concentration of these elements than nonsmokers [2–4]. Lead is carcinogenic to humans and probably a major reason for cancer in human belonging to group 1 or group 2 [5]. Tobacco is a key source of lead present in the body of the indirect smokers (children and adolescents) in the United State. Children who live with one or more smokers contain 14–24% higher level of lead in blood than those who live with nonsmokers [6]. Beside it, in addition to other toxic elements, 87 organic carcinogens are produced by tobacco smoke is being inhaled into the lungs [7]. Some of the toxic metals like cadmium, nickel, and lead frequently move along with inhaled smoke to the blood that is usually deposited in various organs like the liver and kidney [8]. Excessive intake of toxic elements or essential element deficiency disturbs the homeostatic control which causes chronic physiological disorders such as hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, and heart diseases [9]. Lead potentially harms the nervous system, brain, and red blood cells in human. In an estimate, a person inhales 1–5 μg lead per day by the smoking 20 cigarettes [10–13].

Including Pakistan, tobacco smoking is a general practice all over the world, especially in young or adult men and women. Due to the high health risk of tobacco smoking, it is necessary to monitor the elevated level of metals in cigarettes. Thereby, in the current study, we investigate 19 different brands of cigarettes (local and imported) to make fresh data and measure the heavy metals (e.g., lead, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, and cadmium). The results are compared to the cigarette brands used in the current study and also with the results of other studies that addressed the elevated level of metals in cigarettes worldwide.

### **2. Ion beam for material analysis techniques**

Recently, analysis using ion beam became an order of modern analytical techniques by the use of MeV ion beams to study the elemental compositions. During bombardment, interactions of the ion with matter results in elastic and inelastic scattering, nuclear reaction, and excitation of the electromagnetic waves. Below is a demonstration of the typical techniques (**Figure 1**).

**89**

**Figure 3.**

*Typical ERDA setup.*

**Figure 2.**

*Schematic of RBS setup.*

*Investigation of Toxic Metals in the Tobacco of Pakistani Cigarettes Using Proton-Induced X-Ray…*

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) is one of most frequently used ion beam analysis. It is used to examine the elemental composition with depth profiling of samples by measuring the energy of an elastically backscattered ion beam, which depends on the mass of the targeted sample and on the penetrating distance,

Elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), known as forward recoil scattering can be used to examine the light elemental concentration with depth profile in a thin film. In this technique, light element such as hydrogen could be recoiled by heavy

Particle-induced X-ray emission or proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) is a technique used in determining the elemental content of a sample from Na to heavier

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84723*

**2.1 Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS)**

which the back scattering occurred (**Figure 2**).

**2.2 Elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA)**

**2.3 Particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE)**

element in the forward direction and detect (**Figure 3**).

**Figure 1.** *Ion beam analysis techniques.*

*Investigation of Toxic Metals in the Tobacco of Pakistani Cigarettes Using Proton-Induced X-Ray… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84723*
