541-323-3833Scientific American finds radioactive polonium in cigarettes. Their shocking findings include:
- “Tobacco plants accumulate small concentrations of polonium 210, a radioactive isotope that mostly originates from natural radioactivity in fertilizers.
- Smokers inhale the polonium, which settles in “hot spots” in the lungs and can cause cancer. Its effects may lead to thousands of deaths a year in the U.S. alone.
- The tobacco industry has known for decades how to virtually eliminate the polonium from cigarette smoke but kept its knowledge secret and failed to act.
- The Food and Drug Administration now has the authority to regulate tobacco and could begin to use it by forcing manufacturers to reduce polonium content.”
The impact: “Puff by puff, the poison builds up to the equivalent radiation dosage of 300 chest x-rays a year for a person who smokes one and a half packs a day.”