Late November 06 news is about that spy allegedly assassinated by Putin. The poison was found to be Polonium 210. Media voices say it's the most deadly stuff, etc etc etc.
Where else do we hear about Polonium 210? Hmmm.... Yes...in typical (unregulated) cigarettes via the still legal use of mined phosphate fertilizers contaminaated with Polonium 210.
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Prof. Edw. Martell once determined that Po-210 is "the primary agent of bronchial cancer in smoking." That was in mid 70s. How many victims were exposed, got sick, and died, since his warning was ignored?
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So, if Polonium 210 is so deadly, why is it that our gallant, concerned "health conscious" anti smoking officials (even, troublingly, physicians!) don't do or say anything or warn anyone or demand instant bans on such stuff in cigarettes? How many victims of so-called "smoking related" diseases are checked with a geiger counter? Zero? Less? How many medical students in, say, Oncology 101, are taught about this?
["To grow what the tobacco industry calls "more flavorful" tobacco, US farmers use high-phosphate fertilizers. The phosphate is taken from a rock mineral, apatite, that is ground into powder, dissolved in acid and further processed. Apatite rock also contains radium, and the radioactive elements lead 210 and polonium 210. ....."]
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In poking around, one finds info that there's also Lead 210 and Cadmium (both toxic heavy metals, of course) that come along with those phosphate fertilizers. Cargill, a "proud" sponsor of "public" radio in the U.S., is a top producer of these phosphates. No wonder we don't hear about cig radiation on Naational Public Radio...or about rads on SALT!, or the phosphate/Alzheimer's connection, or any of it. Thank you Garrison Kiellor and Click & Clack, et al, for making "Public" radio seem so down-home, funny, trustworthy, and friendly to so many.
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Even then U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop once warned of the dangers of rads in cigs...the virtually inevitable cell damage and cancer. Reader's Digest, top selling mag in the world at the time, had a piece on this in March 86. Not exactly a secret thing. Where's the issue now? Gone. To this day, it's "legal" to use radioactive phosphate fertilizers on tobacco...and to evade scrutiny, liabilities, and prosecution.
Even the EPA knows about it...but spins it a bit. EPA's level of concern for cancer-causing radiation in "2ndhand smoke" is non-existent. Same as that of UK officials, all apparently Pretend Enemies of the broad cigarette industry, chastising the industry for tobacco but ignoring the gross adulteration of products with known deadly industrial substances. That is...it's nature's fault, not industry's.
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It is likely that the mid-80s exposé of the rads in cigs was more about distracting from the pesticide/chlorine/dioxin parts of cigs. Likely, Big Radiation didn't enjoy being a fall guy, so...that all ended. No little rad symbols on our Marlboros.
Since then...just (unpatented, natural) "tobacco" has been the fall guy...along with those darn disobedient "smokers", and of course, utterly non-complicit bar/restaurant proprietors.
By the way...the presence of dioxin in smoke from chlorine-contaminated cigs presents duped consumers with not just deadly rads but with The Promoter Effect as the dioxin accelerates the cell damages caused by the rads and every other carcinogen.
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Industry and gov't tolerance of this combo of rads and dioxin, in products that can be addictive at that, is a crime of some significance.
We are talking about Radiation Rods (and/or Dioxin Dowels), not just "cigarettes". Certainly not just "tobacco products".
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
So put a Geiger counter next to a cigarette
29.11.2006 09:30
sceptic
Extra! Extra!
29.11.2006 13:16
steffaction
e-mail:
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yeah but the slant is
29.11.2006 16:20
Pish, of course, but nice for carving out a marketing niche for "natural, organic tobacco" that I've heard some people offer me "cos it doesn't have harmful chemicals in it" [except the nicotine and the ones produced by combustion and the tar....]
bof
in the dark
29.11.2006 23:34
3eyes
to sceptic...
30.11.2006 01:55
However, Polonium-210 is said to be an alpha-emitter. Alpha-emitters outside the body are fine, as alpha particles are stopped by the dead layers of your skin. Inhaled or ingested alpha-emitters are bad news as the highly-ionising alpha particles that they emit now shred the nuclei of live cells in your body, scrambling their DNA and making a relatively large contribution to the risk of cancer.
scientist