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A Rare Material and a Surprising Weapon (Polonium 210)
NY Times ^ | November 25, 2006 | DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Posted on 11/25/2006 8:06:31 PM PST by neverdem

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1 posted on 11/25/2006 8:06:32 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Do you think that we could find some on ebay?


2 posted on 11/25/2006 8:12:53 PM PST by claptrap (We've found a Witch can we burn her?)
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To: neverdem
it occurs in trace amounts in uranium ore and has been found in minute quantities in plants like tobacco

That is interesting, to say the least...

3 posted on 11/25/2006 8:15:53 PM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: neverdem

Seems like someone could embed it into an inert substance like a seltzer pill, that would dissolve when dropped into water.


4 posted on 11/25/2006 8:15:54 PM PST by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: claptrap
Do you think that we could find some on ebay?

I suspect that those responsible, while getting extra points for concluding the assignment successfully have had points taken away for drawing attention to themselves.

5 posted on 11/25/2006 8:18:27 PM PST by IncPen (When Al Gore Finished the Internet, he Invented Global Warming)
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To: Paloma_55

You're talking about an amount of the stuff that is like one thousandth of a grain of sand... you need special equipment to handle it and special equipment just to keep track of it.

If you were to accidentally breathe it in, you're toast.


6 posted on 11/25/2006 8:22:09 PM PST by djf (Only immigration question needed: You coming here to JOIN US or to CONQUER US?)
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To: neverdem

"had access to a high-level nuclear laboratory"

Hogwash. Anyone in America has access to lethal quantities of polonium 210, if you know where to look, and if you wanted to kill someone.

Someone mentioned ebay- close, but google is your buddy. And your credit card.


7 posted on 11/25/2006 8:22:50 PM PST by DBrow
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To: neverdem

So, anyone estimate how much it actually cost to assasinate this man? This has to be an expensive way to kill someone.


8 posted on 11/25/2006 8:30:21 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: neverdem

So I wonder if this restaurant in the UK is going to change its name.

http://www.thepoloniumrestaurant.co.uk/


9 posted on 11/25/2006 8:45:17 PM PST by rwh
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood
Tobacco through the cellular component of the tobacco mosaic concentrates polonium from the soil found in the south as the same fields are used year after year. Just fifteen years ago, most people received more radiation from second hand cigarette smoke (polonium particulate) than they did from all other sources of radiation including dental and medical radiographs.

Improvements in film and digital radiographs likely makes this occurrence in tobacco smoke the largest contributor of radiation to the general public, save for those that fly a lot (above the thickest part of the atmosphere for long periods).

10 posted on 11/25/2006 8:55:59 PM PST by dersepp (I Am A Militia Of One)
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To: neverdem

Polonium 210 is a material that is regulated by the federal government, but you don't need access to a nuclear lab in order to obtain it. It has scientific/industrial uses and can be found in many chemistry and biology labs, both academic and industrial. It is commercially available, with liscencing, if you know what specific class of products uses it. Most of those places are not heavily secured.


11 posted on 11/25/2006 9:07:55 PM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: rwh

LOL!


12 posted on 11/25/2006 9:11:08 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: IncPen

Actually, it looks like the operation was quite successful. Assuming that Putin does not wish to publicly say "Yes, I am assasinating my enemies", using an exotic and fantasticaly expensive poison is much better at silicing critics than a drive-by shooting.


13 posted on 11/25/2006 9:11:42 PM PST by TennesseeProfessor
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To: neverdem

["Polonium is extremely rare in nature."]

No it's not. It can be found in either cigarette smoke or in fish.

A little bit of reality needs to set in until a full autopsy is done.


14 posted on 11/25/2006 9:15:01 PM PST by LjubivojeRadosavljevic
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To: neverdem

How many Putin enemies have been eliminated or attempted to be in recent years?

Is this like a mob killing, where they don't CARE that you know who did it; in fact they WANT their signatures on the killing as a warning?


15 posted on 11/25/2006 9:18:31 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: Vince Ferrer
This has to be an expensive way to kill someone.

Polonium 210 is not expensive. Like I said in my previous post, it is commercially available. Products usingt it are in the $20-50 range. There is a lot of MSM misinformation in this article, probably put there so as not to alert people that this stuff is found well outside of nuclear labs.

16 posted on 11/25/2006 9:21:24 PM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: TennesseeProfessor
silicing critics

Is that the Silesian equivilent of Sicilianing opponents?

17 posted on 11/25/2006 9:21:52 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: TennesseeProfessor
Actually, it looks like the operation was quite successful. Assuming that Putin does not wish to publicly say "Yes, I am assasinating my enemies", using an exotic and fantasticaly expensive poison is much better at silicing critics than a drive-by shooting.

I suppose you're right.

The ex-spy would be just as dead and less roads leading to Putin if they'd, say, carved him up, or hung him from a bridge, or cut off his genitals and placed them in his mouth (as the Russians did to Lebanese who kidnapped some of their diplomats in the 1980s)

My point is that the sources of this poison are probably few enough that footprints or fingerprints might actually lead to Putin in such as way as to damage him

18 posted on 11/25/2006 9:22:23 PM PST by IncPen (When Al Gore Finished the Internet, he Invented Global Warming)
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To: doc30
There is a lot of MSM misinformation in this article, probably put there so as not to alert people that this stuff is found well outside of nuclear labs.

Why would it matter if people knew?

19 posted on 11/25/2006 9:32:29 PM PST by GOPJ (Muslims wear us down through terrorism.They should be worn down through mockery & criticism-Fjordman)
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To: doc30; neverdem
If this stuff is something which may be more or less routinely produced in nuclear reactors when desired, and it is on the order of 1011 times more deadly than HCN, don't you think we should work hard on eliminating "peaceful" nuclear reactors under Iranian control...?

NO cheers, unfortunately.

20 posted on 11/25/2006 9:36:20 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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