Polonium‐210 in news: an allegory of a misappropriated science

Abstract

‘I wonder whether it is useful to let men know the secrets of nature. I am one of those who, like Alfred Nobel, ask whether future discoveries will bring more good than harm to mankind.’ These were the words of Pierre Curie at an official Stockholm speech on being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work with radioactivity. More than a century later, the news of the circumstances of death of the Russian spy Litvinenko on the evening of 23 November 2006, at University College Hospital, London, has received a lot of attention. Radioactivity has caught the fancy of the criminal fraternity, thus causing widespread concern. In the past, radioactivity made news in a glaring instance of radio-medical quackery [1], when in 1925 a college dropout and fraudulently titled ‘Dr’ William J. A. Bailey started selling Radithor (solution of radium isotopes, radium-226 and radium-228) in the USA. Sold as a cure for dyspepsia, hypertension, impotence and multiple ‘endocrinological’ problems, the truth was exposed when it led to the painful death of the millionaire socialite and tycoon Eben Byers in 1932. Thousands had been poisoned before the medicine was withdrawn from the shelves and regulatory bodies (e.g. the Food and Drug Administration) sprung into action. Polonium (Po)-210, discovered, ironically, by Pierre Curie's wife Marie Curie and researched further by his daughter Irène Joliot-Curie, is the only natural radioactive isotope of Po, with a half-life of 138.5 days and widely distributed in nature. Like radium, it is a strong α emitter which, being a high-energy–low-penetration radiation, cannot penetrate paper or the epidermis. The risk is therefore low without exposure of wounds or mucous membranes. Tobacco and food items such as seafood and reindeer meat are reported sources of Po [2, 3], although the annual dose is low and any long-term adverse health consequence is debatable. Symptoms of acute exposure are manifest in gastrointestinal, haematological, renal and dermatological systems. Management involves decontamination, supportive therapy and chelation therapy. Chelating agents such as N-(2, 3-dimercaptopropyl) phthalamidic acid, meso-dimercaptosuccinic acid and N, N′-di (2-hydroxyethyl) ethylene-diamine-N, N′-biscarbodithioate have been evaluated in animal studies with positive results [4, 5]. Such incidents of radioactive poisoning deaths also raise concerns over the possibility of bioterrorism, as Po-210, being safe outside the body, is an easy means to meet unscrupulous ends. Apparently, the disquieting words over the future misuse of radioactivity, as expressed by Late Pierre Curie, proved prophetic.