eugenez@azure.UUCP (02/24/84)
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* RADIOACTIVE SMOKE *
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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