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Published online 20 December 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news061218-9
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Polonium official danger rating may get upgrade
Atomic agency considering revising opinion of spy poison.
The poisoning of former Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko has prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency to consider whether the safety rating of the substance involved — polonium-210 — should be upgraded.
Litvinenko died in London last month after ingesting an unknown amount of polonium-210, which decays by emitting α particles and is fatal in doses of milligrams or below.
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