Polonium-210: the hard-to-detect poison that killed Alexander Litvinenko

Just a few milligrams of the highly radioactive isotope found in Yasser Arafat's body is a lethal doseSeven years ago the Kremlin critic and ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko met two Russians in a London hotel. What happened next was one of the most brazen assassinations of modern times. According to British prosecutors, Litvinenko's companions, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, slipped a colourless, odourless substance into his tea. Litvinenko drank. Not much, but enough for him to die in agony three weeks later in University College hospital.The substance was polonium-210, a rare and highly radioactive isotope that a Swiss team has discovered in Yasser Arafat's exhumed corpse. It is extremely hard to detect. Scientists only identified it in Litvinenko hours before his death. A former FSB officer, and teetotaller, Litvinenko was a fitness fanatic. Doctors say it was only because he was in such good shape that he lasted so long. If he had died sooner, the cause of death would probably never have been uncovered.Polonium-210 occurs at very low levels naturally, but is manufactured for use by industrial plants to prevent the buildup of static electricity.It is an effective and convenient poison. It emits pure alpha particles, which outside the body can be stopped by a sheet of tissue paper. But if ingested, it causes widespread damage as it passes into organs. The radiation releases energy that creates reactive particles called free radicals. These in turn form toxic compounds that ar...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: The Guardian Middle East and North Africa Yasser Arafat Russia Alexander Litvinenko Analysis World news Palestinian territories Europe UK news Science Source Type: news