SPOKESMAN BOOKS
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Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
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Catalogue
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Zhores Medvedev, the Russian scientist who has lived in Britain for many years, writes on “Polonium-210 in London” in the new issue of The Spokesman. Here is a short excerpt from his article.
“Polonium-210 as
radiopoison -- toxicology and radiobiology
The organisers who
were behind this operation knew some of the basics of radiobiology. However,
they studied only a limited amount of literature, probably via the internet. They
were in a hurry. Internet sources do not cover the literature published
between 1960
and 1980. In these early studies it was found that polonium-210, if ingested,
is very poorly absorbed into the blood
stream. Only about five or six per
cent of ingested polonium passes
through the intestine wall. 90 to 95 per cent is removed via the faeces without
any damage. Alfa radiation does not reach the stem cells layer of the
intestine. All studies of the
toxicity of polonium-210 during the last 20 to 25 years were carried out
using intravenous injections. To do otherwise would have been a waste of
money. The first poisoning of
several men, carried out in the middle of October,
was a failure due to insufficient doses. The second attempt was not easy
to make. The dynamic of polonium in different tissues, and the results of
the post-mortem, might solve the problem of dates. But it is not likely that the
results of such a study will be published. Experts have already published the graphs
of the possible distribution of polonium-210 in Litvinenko's tissues. When it
will be possible to compare them with the real picture, nobody
knows.”
Read Dr Medvedev on the death of Alexander Litvinenko and the poisoning of others in The Spokesman (no.96)
Price: £5.00
ISBN: 978 085124 7472
Spokesman 96
Paperback
