[ RadSafe ] Exposure of the public to Poloinium 210

[Glenn R. Marshall]

I cannot help wondering how much they ingested, and just how much their
risk of cancer increased.  If they go to bars, their risk of cancer has
already increased from all the cigarette smoke - which, by the way, also
contains Po-210.  If they are smokers themselves, their lung dose could
be considerable.  

Was their lung dose 5 rem or 50 rem?  My guess is, if the risk of cancer
increased "slightly", then the intake may have been just barely
detectable.  I'm not downplaying this, just trying to put it into
perspective; admittedly that is impossible when trying to defuse
hysteria, even if hard numbers are available (and they are not).  

Can anyone out there elaborate on any of this?

Glenn Marshall, CHP


The Guardian reports :-

"Fears that significant numbers of innocent bystanders may have been
poisoned followed the return of urine tests yesterday which showed that
all seven of the Pine Bar's staff had ingested the substance in
sufficient quantities to slightly increase their risk of contracting
cancer."