Abstract
ALPHA-RADIOACTIVITY in cigarettes has recently been measured by two groups. Turner and Radley1 suggested that 210Pb and 210Po are not present in the raw tobacco at levels of activity of the same order as 226Ra, and concluded that the additional α-activity taken into the lungs from the radium content in cigarettes is less than 1 per cent of the atmospheric radon inhaled by both smokers and non-smokers. Radford and Hunt2, however, maintained that polonium is more dangerous because of its volatility above 500° C. They identified the 210Po content of cigarettes by observing α-activity of 138 days half-life, and estimated the radiation dose to bronchial epithelium from 210Po inhaled in cigarette smoke to be at least seven times that from background sources, and in localized areas possibly up to 200 times.
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References
Turner, R. C., and Radley, J. M., Lancet, i, 1197 (1960).
Radford, jun., E. P., and Hunt, V. R., Science, 143, 247 (1964).
For a comprehensive discussion of solid-state detectors and charge-sensitive preamplifiers see Inst. Rad. Eng. Trans., NS–8, No. 1 (1961).
Biological half-lives for some other organs are given in ICRP report on permissible dose from internal radiation. Health Phys., 3, 219 (1960).
Hill, C. R., Nature, 187, 211 (1960).
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YAVIN, A., DE PASQUALI, G. & BARON, P. Polonium in Cigarettes—Spectroscopic Analysis. Nature 205, 899–900 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/205899a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/205899a0
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