If were those anti-smoking advocate people right now, I'd be throwing a ton of money on TV advertising related to this.
Because, believe it or not, even though only abour 100g of Polonium-210 is ever synthesized in laboratories per year by bombarding barium...
Polonium-210 can be found in Cigarettes.
Yes.
That's so insane.
"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 contains radium, radioactive lead 210 and polonium 210. The radioactivity
of common chemical fertilizer can be verified with a Geiger-Mueller counter and an
open sack of everyday 13-13-13 type of fertilizer (or any other chemical fertilizer
high in phosphate content). (4)
Conservative estimates put the level of radiation absorbed
by a pack-and-a-half a day smoker at the equivalent of 300
chest X-rays every year. (5) The Office of Radiation, Chemical
& Biological Safety at Michigan State University report that the
radiation level for the same smoker was as high as 800 chest
X-rays per year (6). Another author argues that a typical nicotine
addict might be getting the equivalent of almost 22,000 chest X-rays
per year. (7) US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stated in 1990
that tobacco radiation is probably responsible for most of tobacco
-related cancer. (8)"
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