New York Times Op-Ed piece on polonium in cigarettes
Puffing on Polonium
December 1, 2006
By ROBERT N. PROCTOR
WHEN the former K.G.B. agent Alexander V. Litvinenko was found to have been poisoned by radioactive polonium 210 last week, there was one group that must have been particularly horrified: the tobacco industry.
The industry has been aware at least since the 1960s that cigarettes contain significant levels of polonium.
Subscribers to NYTimes, click here for the rest of the article.
Robert N. Proctor is a professor of the history of science at Stanford University.
==========================
See new figures on smoking's toll in WHO's latest projections for 2015 and 2030 from Public Library of Science Medicine. According to the World Health Organization:
"But, even given the rise in HIV/AIDS deaths, the new projections predict that more people will die of tobacco-related disease than of HIV/AIDS in 2015."
Citation: Mathers CD, Loncar D (2006) Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Med 3(11): e442. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030442
(photo credit: digital_trash on flickr)
technorati tags:tobacco, smoking, polonium, radioactivity, tobaccocontrol, WHO, risks, healthrisks, actualrisks, riskmanagement
No comments:
Post a Comment