TRACE QUANTITIES OF URANIUM IN SOME INDIAN CHEWING TOBACCOS AS DETERMINED BY FISSION-TRACK ANALYSIS

The sandwiched pellet technique using Makrofol-E plastic track detecto rs has been employed to determine trace quantities of uranium in nine brands of flavored chewing tobaccos consumed by the Indian population. In this technique the nuclear reaction, U-235(n, f), is used for the quantitative estimation of uranium. The maximum value of uranium (1.88 ppm) has been found in raw tobacco leaves (Surti), while the minimum (0.13 ppm) in Tulsi (Double Zero brand). Other seven brands showed int ermediate values of U-contents which are also reported in this paper. These values are compared with the U-contents reported in the literatu re for other forms of tobaccos.