I found an interesting fact about radioactive poison (polonium-210) that killed Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. He died three weeks later, becoming the victim of a high profile nuclear crime and the first known victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome. Further details of Russian spy death and more facts about the deadly ponium-210 can be found in Alexander Litvinenko poisoning.
In many ways, polonium-210 is an ideal poison for espionage -- deadly, and undetectable until it's too late.
A dose of the white powder smaller than a grain of salt could have been dropped into Litvinenko's drink at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar in London without altering the taste, according to chemist John Emsley of Cambridge University.
Within minutes of ingestion, the energetic particles shooting off the polonium-210 molecules began killing the cells lining Litvinenko's gastrointestinal tract. As the cells sloughed off, they caused nausea, severe internal bleeding and enormous pain.
"It was as if his internal organs received a severe sunburn and peeled," said Peter Zimmerman, a physicist at King's College London.
Pound for pound, polonium-210 is at least a million times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide, the poison used to execute prisoners in gas chambers, according to medical toxicology books. Radiation safety experts calculate that a single gram of polonium could kill 50 million people and sicken another 50 million.
But it is extremely hard to get. About 100 grams — or 3 1/2 ounces — are produced each year, primarily by Russia.
[via: Boingboing]
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