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They taught this info about polonium 210 in pre-med physiology back in the late 60's;
"Thirty-two years ago, scientists discovered that tobacco contains high concentrations of radioactivity. The radionuclide it contains is known as polonium-210. Polonium is an alpha emitter and such emitters are the most highly ionizing radiation known to mankind, and they are particularly damaging when they are in contact with living tissue.
When you light up a cigarette the polonium is volatilized, you inhale it, and it is quickly deposited in the living tissue of the respiratory system. It is estimated that if you smoke one and a half packs of cigarettes a day for one year the bronchial tissues will receive approximately 16,000 millirem of radiation exposure (one chest x-ray could deliver 20 - 30 millirem to the same tissue). In comparison, the federal limits of radiation exposure to the general public from man-made occupational radiation may not exceed 100 millirem per year or 2 millirem in any one hour.
The current federal regulations require tobacco companies to display the Surgeon General's warning that cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health. Tobacco companies can and do challenge epidemiological studies that show a correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, but there is no way they can challenge the fact that cigarettes contain naturally occurring radioactive polonium and that the tissues of the lungs are exposed to very high levels of ionizing alpha radiation.
Please take due consideration of the above facts as you think about your own health and the health of others."
Source: "Safety Line"; The Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Utah State University; Issue 33, Fall 1996
Note: Aplha particles are helium nuclei with their electrons stripped off. Alpha emitters are typically very long lived, which means that polonium particles lodged in the lungs will continue to irradiate smokers long after they quit.
The source of all this are impurities naturally occuring in apatite deposits. Apatite contains natural phophates and so is very often used for producing fertilizer. Since it's cheap to mine it's also commonly used in crops like tobacco that require lots of phosphates to properly develop.
Apatite, unfortunately, is also very often found in close proximity to naturally occuring deposits of radioactive materials like uranium & its decay by-products, radon, polonium, lead and other such nasty stuff. These contaminate the apatite by way of being dissolved in rain and redeposited in the apatite etc.
Uppance: DON'T START!!!!
Dr. Mordrid
"Thirty-two years ago, scientists discovered that tobacco contains high concentrations of radioactivity. The radionuclide it contains is known as polonium-210. Polonium is an alpha emitter and such emitters are the most highly ionizing radiation known to mankind, and they are particularly damaging when they are in contact with living tissue.
When you light up a cigarette the polonium is volatilized, you inhale it, and it is quickly deposited in the living tissue of the respiratory system. It is estimated that if you smoke one and a half packs of cigarettes a day for one year the bronchial tissues will receive approximately 16,000 millirem of radiation exposure (one chest x-ray could deliver 20 - 30 millirem to the same tissue). In comparison, the federal limits of radiation exposure to the general public from man-made occupational radiation may not exceed 100 millirem per year or 2 millirem in any one hour.
The current federal regulations require tobacco companies to display the Surgeon General's warning that cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health. Tobacco companies can and do challenge epidemiological studies that show a correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, but there is no way they can challenge the fact that cigarettes contain naturally occurring radioactive polonium and that the tissues of the lungs are exposed to very high levels of ionizing alpha radiation.
Please take due consideration of the above facts as you think about your own health and the health of others."
Source: "Safety Line"; The Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Utah State University; Issue 33, Fall 1996
Note: Aplha particles are helium nuclei with their electrons stripped off. Alpha emitters are typically very long lived, which means that polonium particles lodged in the lungs will continue to irradiate smokers long after they quit.
The source of all this are impurities naturally occuring in apatite deposits. Apatite contains natural phophates and so is very often used for producing fertilizer. Since it's cheap to mine it's also commonly used in crops like tobacco that require lots of phosphates to properly develop.
Apatite, unfortunately, is also very often found in close proximity to naturally occuring deposits of radioactive materials like uranium & its decay by-products, radon, polonium, lead and other such nasty stuff. These contaminate the apatite by way of being dissolved in rain and redeposited in the apatite etc.
Uppance: DON'T START!!!!
Dr. Mordrid
...even though I dont smoke...also what about all the fallout from the above grount nuclear tests done in the 50's and 60s? I heard that it winded up as some of the dust in your adackt is from those tests....
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