Replies

"Polonium is a highly radioactive and toxic element and is dangerous to handle. Even in milligram or microgram amounts, handling polonium-210 is very dangerous and requires special equipment used with strict procedures. Direct damage occurs from energy absorption into tissues from alpha particles.

The maximum allowable body burden for ingested polonium is only 1100 becquerels (0.03 microcurie), which is equivalent to a particle weighing only 6.8 × 10-12 gram. Weight for weight polonium is approximately 2.5 × 1011 times as toxic as hydrocyanic acid. The maximum permissible concentration for airborne soluble polonium compounds is about 7,500 Bq/m3 (2 × 10-11 µCi/cm3)."

Scroll down to 210 specifically, though -- says it's not dangerous to humans.

No, the 210 section of your link says no such thing. That section says:

"Since nearly all alpha radiation can be easily stopped by ordinary containers and upon hitting its surface releases its energy, polonium-210 has been used as a lightweight heat source to power thermoelectric cells in artificial satellites."

That is true and is Radiation Safety 101.

Alpha emitters do not emit gamma radiation that are electromagnetic waves that will go right through you. Alpha emitters emit large subatomic fragments consisting of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. In radiation terms, that is a huge particle that, like a medicine ball hitting a wooden wall, has a lot of energy transfered to the wall but poor penetration through the wall.

The good news is that such large particles can be stopped by a sheet of paper and even your layer of dead skin if you have an alpha particle radiation source next to you.

The bad news is that, if you ingest that alpha source and those atoms are absorbed into your body, each atom of an alpha particle is bombarding the cells in your body with heavy alpha particles.

A little dose and you can later get cancer.

A much higher dose and the DNA of your cellular structures is carpet bombed in the radiation health equivalent of B-52 strike.

How can alpha particles affect peoples health?.......... The health effects of alpha particles depend heavily upon how exposure takes place. External exposure (external to the body) is of far less concern than internal exposure, because alpha particles lack the energy to penetrate the outer dead layer of skin. .......... However, if alpha emitters have been inhaled, ingested (swallowed), or absorbed into the blood stream, sensitive living tissue can be exposed to alpha radiation. The resulting biological damage increases the risk of cancer; in particular, alpha radiation is known to cause lung cancer in humans when alpha emitters are inhaled.

As your own link says under the "Precautions" section:

Precautions Polonium is a highly radioactive and toxic element and is dangerous to handle. Even in milligram or microgram amounts, handling polonium-210 is very dangerous and requires special equipment used with strict procedures. Direct damage occurs from energy absorption into tissues from alpha particles.

So, the danger from alpha emitters comes from ingesting it.

If you handle Polonium 210 carelessly and get a tiny bit of it up your nose, you are in trouble. If it has been packaged in the KGB lab inside a cigarette that is inside a sealed cigarette pack, it is safe to carry around in your coat pocket until you break into the victim's house and switch one of his pack of Camel cigarettes for your pack of Camel cigarettes.

In short, it is the ideal radiological murder weapon that is deadly for the victim but safe for the killer to transport.