“This Wasn’t Cooked Up By Amatuers”
The experts being consulted about the use of polonium 210 to poison Alexander Litvinenko agree on a number of things. This may have been the very first use of this radioactive isotope as a poison, which is part of the reason it took so long to discover. Polonium 210 is not readily available which strongly indicates a very well-resourced killer, quite like a state sponsor. And this was a particularly brutal way to kill someone.
Polonium-210, the isotope identified in Mr Litvinenko’s body, is known to be highly toxic and radioactive, and it is not easy to come by. It occurs naturally only at trace levels, and larger amounts that would be needed to kill are manufactured in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators by bombarding bismuth-209, a similar but inert metal, with neutrons.
Unlike certain other radioactive isotopes, such as caesium-137 and cobalt-60, it is not used in medical radiology, and therefore cannot be stolen from hospital waste. Its main use is in anti-static devices in industry, though in a form that could not be easily adapted for use as a poison. It is also sometimes used as a power source for satellites.
The difficulty of getting hold of polonium suggests that the killer was well resourced and possibly state-sponsored, scientists said.
Andrea Sella, lecturer in chemistry at University College London, said: “This is not the sort of thing that amateurs could have cooked up in a bathtub. You would have to go to a nuclear lab such as Oak Ridge, Los Alamos or Harwell — or to one of the Russian ones.”
Polonium-210 has a half life of 138 days, and emits alpha particles — helium atoms that are produced by radioactive decay. While these are easily stopped by the skin they become hugely damaging if they get inside the human body by swallowing, inhalation or through a wound. They cause extensive damage to tissues and to DNA, and could explain Mr Litvinenko’s symptoms.
The low hazards posed by alpha particles in the environment explains why the Health Protection Agency said that those who came into contact with Mr Litvinenko ought not to be at major risk. The poisoner would also have been little affected by the polonium.
Once inside the body the alpha radiation would have been difficult to detect and few toxicologists would have thought to look for polonium.
A commenter asked yesterday why would this be used as a poison. I think the answers are apparent now. Because polonium has not been used in this way before (at least it hasn't been recognized) toxicologists wouldn't look for it. Because the isotope is an alpha emitter, the radiation would not be readily detectable outside the body. (Alpha has extremely low penetration. Earlier reports suggested that Litvinenko forced himself to vomit as soon as he realized he had been poisoned. Had he not done so, he might have died very quickly and the authorities might not have discovered this at all. How often do they take a Geiger counter to an autopsy? (Bet they will from now on, though). Tests on animals indicate that death occurs very, very rapidly with a sufficient dose polonium 210. There is widespread systemic failure of internal organs.
World news | Gaius Saturday, 25 November , 2006
By guy, Saturday, 25 November , 2006 @ 9:11 am
And also a note from Captain Ed made sense. Once poisoned, there wasn’t much doctors could do to save him even if they had found out the cause before he died.
By Gaius, Saturday, 25 November , 2006 @ 9:39 am
Yeah, I doubt there is any protocol for this one at all.
By TC@LeatherPenguin, Saturday, 25 November , 2006 @ 10:36 am
A emmigrant friend of mine who hails from Russia once told me, “You guys have no idea when it comes to the Russian mob that was unleashed post-”glastnost(sp?)”. You watch “Godfather” and “Sopranos” films, while the Kremlin is becoming the “Bada Bing” club writ large.
“My father decided to leave AFTER Gorbachev and the Wall and all of that stuff. He said the whole ruling structure had gone freakin’ nuts chasing money. He was running a department in a well-regarded hospital. He took a hard look and, as you American’s say, decided to “get out of Dodge.”