Spy's wife said to test positive for polonium-210; mystery deepens

[Poll_Blind]

From AP and CNN via USA Today:

The Associated Press and CNN are reporting that they've been told that the wife of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has tested positive for the same radioactive element that killed him.

The AP is attributing that news to "the former agent's friend, Alex Goldfarb." It also reports that British Home Secretary John Reid confirmed that a member of Litvinenko's family had tested positive for signs of polonium-210, but he did not name the person. Pat Troop, chief executive of the Britain's Health Protection Agency, said the family member faced a "very small" long-term health risk, according to the AP.

That's just one of several developments today in the mystery surrounding Litvinenko's death and the efforts by British authorities (he died in London) to figure out what happened and where else traces of polonium-210 might show up:

--snip--

Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.

PB

[JTFrog]

1. doesn't surprise

me much that this stuff is found all over the place being as how Philip Morris admits the presence of radioactive polonium-210 and lead-210 in the smoke of their commercial cigarettes. do a google on radioactive cigarettes.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Interesting! Lala-Rawraw has a similar take on the distrubtion method...

...in this post from a few minutes ago.

PB

[JTFrog]

7. thank you

for that link. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I haven't seen anything in any of the mainstream articles I've read mention cigarettes in any way. Either as a possible mechanism of delivery or even the fact that they contain the radioactive material.

[dipsydoodle]

2. The plot, like the gravy,

thickens.

As you said : Curiouser and curiouser....although given that it can be transmitted by skin contact it's hardly surprising his missus is showing positive. Hopefully the milkman won't now show positive too.

[napi21]

4. I did a google on pelonium. It's not transferable through the

epidermis, and to affect humans, it has to be inhaled or injected into the body. I doesn't surprose me that the guy's wife would have been exposed. I think the real need is to find out the original source to Litvinenko. He was in a very dangerous profession ya know.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Initial reports said

the grade used could be passed by contact with sweat.

[LiberalEsto]

6. Maybe transferred by having sex? nt

[napi21]

8. That would be my guess.

someone else suggested it wasin his cigaretts, which is how he first inyharled it,then passed it on to his wife via sex.

[BlueInPhilly]

10. Pelonium? Is that a Radioactive Democrat Speaker of the House? N/T

[WritersBlock]

9. It's not like a virus.. think of it more like a very tiny speck of dust.

Any time a human being touches anything, including another human being, there is transfer of particles. And alpha "radiation" is merely a helium nucleus; a physical particle.

If he was poisoned via contaminated food, then he either touched the food, or a utensil that had itself touched the food, in the process of eating it.

Then it could have gotten on his fingers, and from there, who knows. Use your imagination. But that in itself isn't the problem; as many posters have stated, the substance is found in lots of places. And alpha particles aren't dangerous externally, even if they're present on the skin. They can't pass through the epidermis. Only if they're inhaled or ingested are they able to cause tissue damage, which is why there's no eating or drinking allowed in radiation-controlled areas.

If his wife was contaminated by him, it was likely during the course of simply being close to him and touching things he touched. Or cuddling, sadly.