Determination of perchlorate in tobacco plants and tobacco products

Previous field and laboratory studies with vascular plants have shown that perchlorate is transported from perchlorate fortified soils and is accumula ted in the plant tissues and organs. This paper contains results of prelimi nary investigations on the occurrence of perchlorate in tobacco plants grow n in soils amended with a fertilizer whose nitrogen content is derived from naturally occurring sodium nitrate (Chile saltpeter). Ion chromatography ( IC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) were used for quantitative analysis, while nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used for qualitati ve analysis of perchlorate. Results show that perchlorate is accumulated by tobacco plants into the leaves from soils amended with fertilizers that co ntain perchlorate. Also, perchlorate can persist over an extended period of time and under a variety of industrial processes as shown by its presence in off-the-shelf tobacco products including cigarettes, cigars, and pouch a nd plug chewing tobaccos in concentrations ranging from nd to 60.4 +/- 0.8 mg/kg on a wet weight basis.