Abstract
Tobaccos from countries with high and low incidences of lung cancer were analyzed. Tobacco concentrations of polonium-210 were similar in cigarettes from high- and low-incidence countries. as were levels of cigarette smoke tar and nicotine. Tobaccos from low-incidence countries had significantly lower Alternaria spore counts. Mean selenium concentrations of tobaccos from the high-incidence countries (0.16±0.05 μg) were significantly lower than those of tobaccos from the lowincidence countries (0.49±0.22 μg).