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Analysis of heavy metals and PAHs in the waste resulting from hookah consumption: Ahvaz City, Iran

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Abstract

Hookah, a popular form of smoking tobacco, has been commonly used in Asia and Africa. However, the widespread consumption of hookah has a major impact on human health being. In addition to health risks, discarding the waste products of hookah would be a serious potential danger for environmental resources. In this study, the waste materials of hookah consumption (water, tobacco, and charcoal) were analyzed for the determination of the metals and PAHs using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), respectively. Results showed that the average concentration of iron in different flavors of tobacco had the highest amount (3654.2 ppb). Iron had the maximum concentration among the heavy metals, particularly in the mint flavor (10,863.3 ± 4.1). The highest ƩPAHs were related to the mint flavor (47.48 ± 15.21 ppb). Results showed that the aromatic tobacco available in the Ahvaz-Iran market is polluted by heavy metals. The high consumption of hookah in Ahvaz city and the presence of pollutants in hookah waste materials, apart from health risk aspects, can be potentially regarded as sources of environmental contamination. Therefore, education and preventive measures are necessary for this concern.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Elite Researcher Grant Committee under award number [971503] from the National Institute for Medical Research Development (NIMAD), Tehran, Iran. We are grateful to thank Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences for providing academic support.

Funding

This study was funded by the Elite Researcher Grant from the National Institute for Medical Research Development (NIMAD) (Grant No. 971503).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Mahboobeh Dehvari

  2. Environmental Technologies Research Center (ETRC), Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Mahboobeh Dehvari & AliAkbar Babaei

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  1. Mahboobeh Dehvari
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  2. AliAkbar Babaei
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MD performed all experiments, analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript. AAB designed and supervised the experiments. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to AliAkbar Babaei.

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Dehvari, M., Babaei, A. Analysis of heavy metals and PAHs in the waste resulting from hookah consumption: Ahvaz City, Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 33130–33137 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17910-8

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