A Little Polonium With Your Tea?

Litvinenko                                                                                                         Alistair Fuller/AP

Investigators are pretty sure they now have the answer to how Russian former spy Alexander Litvinenko was killed in 2006. For months, everyone was flummoxed. He had entered a hospital in London complaining of severe pain after having had tea at a hotel. He showed all the signs of radiation poisoning, but Geiger counter tests came up negative. Then, a scientist who had worked on Britain's atom bomb program years ago, overheard colleagues discussing the results of his blood and urine tests, which showed an almost imperceptible spike in the trace. He recognized that spike as a characteristic of polonium-210. "Polonium is deadly—100%," says Professor Ian Shipsey. "If it's ingested in the body it destroys cells." It is also hard to detect, as it emits alpha, as opposed to gamma radiation, which is what Geiger counters recognize. Litvinenko died the day polonium-210 was confirmed as the source of his illness. Chillingly fascinating, yes ~ but the story doesn't end there (story, video): http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33678717