"New Polonium Zero contains no calories!"
Posted on 12/07/2006 6:49:33 PM PST by jdm
LONDON, Dec. 7 — Seven bartenders at an upscale hotel in central London have tested positive for radioactive contamination, the British authorities said Thursday, raising new questions about the radiation poisoning death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former Russian agent.
In Moscow, Russia said it had opened its own criminal investigation into the death of Mr. Litvinenko, who was buried Thursday, two weeks after he died, in a private ceremony in London. Russian authorities also said a Russian businessman, Dmitri V. Kovtun, who was interviewed by British investigators in Moscow, was found to have signs of radioactive poisoning.
In London, attention swung back to the Pine Bar of the Mayfair Millennium Hotel, in Grosvenor Square, close to the American Embassy, where Mr. Litvinenko was reported to have met both Mr. Kovtun and another Russian contact, Andrei K. Lugovoi, on Nov. 1.
That was the day Mr. Litvinenko complained of feeling ill. He also ate at a sushi bar on the same day, although it is not clear which establishment he visited first. The exposure to the bartenders revived questions about exactly where Mr. Litvinenko had been poisoned, how he was poisoned and who else might have been contaminated.
The British health authorities said they would contact 250 people who called in after Mr. Litvinenko’s death to say they had been at the Pine Bar on Nov. 1 and would ask them to take a urine test for radioactive contamination.
Prof. Pat Troop, the chief executive of Britain’s Health Protection Agency, said all seven members of the bar staff tested had shown “a low level of contamination” that carried no short-term health risks but a “very small” long-range cancer risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
LOL. I missed that one the first time around. Glad you're archiving the classics. :O)
I have read some hot, glowing reviews of the place! Should you wish to visit, you can book your trip through this agency, by the way:
No such thing.
Semper Fi
Wow! "Loose Lips Sink Ships" on that one! Of course, you would make a great anti-terror guy. To beat them, one needs to be able to think like them as far as strategies are concerned.
I enjoy visiting "hot spots", but this is ridiculous.
Anything is possible at this point in time, but one thing is probable, Russia is heading towards civil war and one side has already deployed a Nuclear Weapon Trigger.
Not good. That means others may have been exposed and they may also have a 'very small' cancer risk. I can see the bartender that worked the table or that served the drinks getting exposed, but all seven members of the bar staff ? Someone must have been radiating like crazy.
I'm told this stuff "creeps". How fast and what would attract it??
Motive?? Demonstrating how the stuff works. In Muslim talk, he's a willing martyr. Most Chechans are Sunni muslims. (I believe the same sect as Usama).
This tale bears many similarities to the Anthrax scenario which I still believe was courtesy of Saddam.
I would worry about giving them ideas if these weren't such obvious ideas.
If contaminated drink/food spilled on the table, the waiter would clean it up with a dishcloth or bar towel. This contaminated bar towel could then have been used to wipe a common area/item used by all the staff. Or the towel might have lain around throughout a shift and been used by everybody. A bar towel is more likely to sit around exposing more people versus a glass/plate which would have been washed after one use. Transfer by ingestion could happen after using a towel, then smoking a cigarette (on the filter), or licking fingers to turn a page in a paper or some other means. Since none of the sushi bar employees have tested positive, and all seven of the Millineum bar have, sounds like the poisoning/accident happened here. Still not sure how Scaramella got the transfer later unless some was spilled on Litvenko's clothing or something he carried with him (briefcase?). Maybe he was sweating it by then?
Wonder if any of the other patrons to the bar on Nov. 1 have been tested.
How much is two grams? Sounds like too much to carry around.
1 ounce = approxiamately 28 grams.
So 2 grams would be less than a packet of sugar or about the same.
...so this nuclear waste smuggler walks into a bar with a Priest, a Minister and a Rabbi, and SEVEN bartenders go over to them, and day,....................
(Please place punchline here)
:~)
That is probably enough to burn right through a jacket pocket. What dose did Litvenenko get? Micrograms?
I have absolutely no idea. I just happened to notice your question and realized I wasn't real sure of the answer, so decided to look it up.........it was easy since I happened to hav had a cookbook out and just checked the conversion chart!!!
I use my powder scale. It has grains and ounces. The grain is based on a millet seed, I believe, or some other minimally small seed. A gram is one of those foreign measures.
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