[ RadSafe ] Arafat Po poisoning report

[Barbara Hamrick]

0
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-----Original Message-----
From: "Dr. Francis Y. Tsang" <francistsang at cox.net>
Sender: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2013 13:57:24 
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List<radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Reply-To: "The International Radiation Protection \(Health Physics\) Mailing
	List" <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Arafat Po poisoning report

Assuming he stopped smoking couple years before he died.  Based on the information of the recent report, a concentration of almost 1 Bq/gm (2.7027027 × 10-11 curies / gram) in bone equates to ~17 MBq/gm (4.6 x 10-4  curies /gram) => 0.46 mCi => 460 micro-Ci/gm at time of his death in Oct 2004.

The median lethal dose of Po-210 is about 240 micro-Ci which is equal to 50 nanograms in the case of ingestion.


On Nov 7, 2013, at 1:48 PM, KARAM, PHILIP <PHILIP.KARAM at nypd.org> wrote:

> I'm not sure if Arafat was a smoker or not - for a man of his age growing up in the Middle East (actually, just about anywhere in the world) it's more likely than not that he smoked at one point. But if he stopped smoking more than a few years before his death then most of the Po-210 would have decayed away (or so I'd think).
> 
> The report states that heavy smokers excrete more Po-210 than non-smokers, but it claims that the levels found are much higher than expected in even a heavy smoker. But I have to admit that this is beyond my level of expertise and I can't do more than repeat what I'm reading.
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Cary Renquist
> Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 4:35 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Arafat Po poisoning report
> 
> Was he a smoker?  Higher than normal Pb-210 levels before death would
> give an elevated Po-210 reading years later...
> 
> ---
> Cary Renquist
> cary.renquist at ezag.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of KARAM, PHILIP
> Sent: Thursday, 07 November 2013 1:02 PM
> To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Arafat Po poisoning report
> 
> For those who are interested, one of the labs analyzing Arafat's remains
> has concluded that he was poisoned with Po-210. A copy of their report
> can be downloaded from the Al Jazeera website
> (http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/6/swiss-study-poloniumfou
> ndinarafatasbones.html).
> 
> I have not had a chance to review the report at all - it's about 100
> pages in length and I just downloaded it. But I have to say that I'm
> dubious that Po-210 could be detected so long after it was administered
> - with a half-life of 138 days, it's undergone 24 half-lives of decay so
> the original activity has decayed by a factor of 2^24 (about 17 million)
> since mid-October, 2004.
> 
> The report did mention a concentration of almost 1 Bq/gm in bone in one
> sample, which means that the concentration at death would have been over
> 17 MBq/gm if I'm doing the calculations correctly. That seems like an
> awful lot of Po-210.
> 
> In any event, it would be interesting if those of you who are better
> versed in laboratory procedures and such could comment on the
> plausibility of this part of the report being correct. It would also be
> interesting if those of you better-versed in radiation sickness could
> comment on the symptoms reported.
> 
> Finally, I should say that, although I'm dubious, I'm also willing to
> change my mind! If the reported lab results are correct then that's the
> way it goes.
> 
> All the best -
> 
> Andy
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