Doses from radiocesium and 40K activities found in some tobacco leaves and cigarettes

It has been found that tobacco leaves and cigarettes contain on the average 1.30 +/- 0.40 Bq.g-1 of 40K which is a beta-gamma emitter. Besides due to the unfortunate Chernobyl accident tobacco leaves may contain 0.04 Bq.g-1 of 137Cs and 0.01 Bq.g-1 of 134Cs depending on their country of origin. From these activities, the annual dose equivalents and the 50 year committed dose equivalents from ingested and inhaled 134Cs, 137Cs and 40K through tobacco consumption are presented.