September 30, 2011

Cigarettes Contain Radioactive Polonium

Cigarettes are known to cause cancer...

But we now know there's another reason why... they contain radioactive material, specifically polonium-210!

Tobacco companies also have known about it since 1959. As reported in ABC, historical documents reveal tobacco companies not only knew about the radioactive substance, but studied it, then refused to do anything about it!

They figured out that:

1) It caused "cancerous growths" in the lungs of smokers,
2) Calculated how much radiation a regular smoker would ingest over 20 years

Then they kept the research secret. The level of deception is breath-taking.

The radiation alone from cigarettes can account for up to 138 deaths for every 1,000 smokers over period of 25 years.

Even more disturbing, is that ALL tobacco products on the market today still contain radioactive polonium. This is in spite of washing techniques available since 1980 to remove the radioactivity but refused by tobacco companies to perform whether due to cost or the fact that washing would remove the addictive nicotine component as well.

Take home message?

STOP smoking! It's killing you through not only harmful chemicals, but also radioactivity!

Read the ABC article here.

Reference:
Cigarette Smoke Radioactivity and Lung Cancer Risk. Nicotine Tob Res (2011) doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntr145
Fauquier blog
Fauquier ENT

Dr. Christopher Chang is a private practice otolaryngology, head & neck surgeon specializing in the treatment of problems related to the ear, nose, and throat. Located in Warrenton, VA about 45 minutes west of Washington DC, he also provides inhalant allergy testing/treatment, hearing tests, and dispenses hearing aids.


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