Deadly Polonium 210 – the same stuff found in trace amounts in Yassar Arafat bones also found in those filthy cigarettes you smoke every day. Something to think about?
Many people may be surprised to know that the deadly poison Polonium 210 – the same stuff that killed former KGB operative Alexander Litvinenko and was found in trace amounts in Yassar Arafat’s bones can also be found in the cigarettes you smoke everyday.
In fact each and every time you “hit” that cigarette, you get a micro dose amount of Polonium 210.
It is contained within the very smoke you like so much to breath in to your lungs. Over time, of course that poison builds up to the equivalent radiation dosage of 300 chest X-rays a year for a person who smokes on average one and half packs a day.
And yes – the tobacco companies knows about all this and so does the federal government.
See video: Polonium 210 world most poisonous substance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5szqHl88PA
In doing research on this subject I was able to find a reference to Polonium 210 study in cigarettes going back as far as the early 1960s at the main library (see: “Polonium-210: A Volatile Radio element in Cigarettes” Edward P. Radford, Jr and Vilma R. Hunt in Science, Volume 143, pages 247-249, January 17, 1964).
Polonium-210 (Po-210) is a radioactive element that occurs naturally and is present in the environment at extremely low concentrations.
Polonium was discovered by Marie Sklodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie in 1898 and was named after Marie´s native land of Poland (Latin: Polonia). This element was the first one discovered by them while they were investigating the cause of pitchblende radioactivity.
It is a fairly volatile (50% is vaporized in air in 45 hours at 55°C) silvery-grey soft metal.
Po-210 has a half-life of 138 days. This is the time it takes for the activity to decrease by half due to a process of radioactive decay. Po-210 decays to stable lead-206 by emitting alpha particles, accompanied by very low intensity gamma rays. The majority of the time Po-210 decays by emission of alpha particles only, not by emission of an alpha particle and a gamma ray. Only about one in a 100,000 decays results in the emission of a gamma ray. Alpha spectroscopy is the best method of measuring this isotope.
In case your wondering there is no commerical advantage to having Polonium 210 in your cigarettes. At least none that I can find. I thought it might be an addictive property within it somehow, which would explain why the tobacco companies might want to lace it in your cigarettes but it isn’t.
A scientist friend of mine, in Charlotte N.C., Dave Mathews said “if the federal government (FDA) ever decides to do the right thing and regulate this harmful product Polonium 210 would be excellent first “poison” to ban from cigarettes.”
From what I understand that isn’t that difficult to remove it from the cigarettes. Certainly the technology exists – so the question is why don’t they do it? I don’t have a good answer for you on that. Furthermore the FDA has not responded to my email asking them why they wouldn’t regulate that substance out of something that people consume?
I heard someone say once “cigarettes can kill you in a thousand and one ways” – Polonium 210 is just one of those ways, I guess.
I’ve talked with others who say “smoking is a slow form of suicide”.
I certainly agree with them on that.
In this respect I suppose you can literally measure your life in terms of the spent cigarette butts you flick out the window of your automobile or throw on the ground when you think nobody is watching.
Besides drinking alcohol, injecting heroin or shooting meth what could be worse than smoking cigarettes, especially when it is laced with polonium 210?
See related video: Radioactive cigarette ash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6pivUBOlyw