[net.veg] RADIOACTIVE CIGARETTE SMOKE

eugenez@azure.UUCP (02/24/84)

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I am reposting  this because a lot of people  may have  missed it the first
time around.

Well, I noticed something in net.med about aldehyde damage from smoking  so
I  thought  I'd  interject a fascinating bit of news about cigarette smoke.
You can forget about aldehydes, noxious  Carbon  Monoxide,  Benzopyrine  (a
strong  carcinogen),  pesticides,  and  the  other  dozen  or two poisonous
substances found in cigarette smoke---there is now a fact that should  make
anyone who smokes to think about  stopping the habit while they  still have
time:


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There are two radioactive isotopes highly concentrated in cigarette  smoke.
They  are  Polonium-210  and Lead-210.  The major source of polonium is the
phospate fertilizer used in growing tobacco.

        A person  smoking  1.5  (ond  and  one-half)  packs  of  cigarettes
        daily   will  get  an  annual  radiation  dose  equivalent  to  300
        (yes, THREE HUNDRED) X-Ray Films of the CHEST.

In contrast, if you were standing for 25 hours  directly  downwind  of  the
Three-Mile  Island  nuclear power plant right after the accident, you would
have received the equivalent of 1 (one) chest X-Ray.

This was reported by Mark S. Boguski (Medical Scientist  Training  Program:
Washington University; St. Louis, MO)

This information was taken from the  April  1983  issue  of  The  Bob  Hope
International Heart Research Institute (528 18th Avenue: Seattle, WA 98122)

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        If I were a smoker, I think just this ONE fact would convince me to
stop  totally.  After all, if I calculated  how many  packs of cigarettes I
smoked per day (on the average) and then  multiplied that  number by 200 to
see how many  ANNUAL Chest X-Rays this was equivalent to, I would be forced
to realize  that I couldn't risk  such radioactive exposure just to ?enjoy? 
Cigarette smoking.

	How may Chest X-Rays are you  getting each  year?  Calculate it and
see!  If I  smoked, I would really think about how hard it  would be on  my
loved  ones to  have to  watch me die before  their very faces  from  smoke
induced lung cancer---that alone would make me stop.    

	By the way---I stopped smoking in grade school.


                                                        ECZ