Polonium 210

 

There are statements that Polonium 210 has been used to murder the Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko.

It's an interesting, but terribly noxious substance if you get it in your body. You have to ingest it in some way, as the skin actually provides protection from its high radiation.

Search for Polonium 210 on the Internet and you'll find that it is strongly linked to lung cancer. Apparently, tobacco farmers use phosphate fertilisers, which when they are mined bring lots of encapsulated radon from the rock. This decays to polonium 210 and gets into the tobacco crop. Then the high temperatures in a cigarette vaporise this element and it gets in your lungs, where it does the damage.

Some reputable commentators say this is responsible for the increase of lung cancer since the 1930s, despite a drop in the number of smokers. Before then they didn't use phosphate fertilisers.

It is just another reason not to smoke.