Seven years ago, Kremlin critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenko met two Russian men in a London hotel. What followed became one of the most audacious assassinations in modern history. British prosecutors say that his companions, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, slipped a colourless, odourless substance into his tea. Litvinenko drank only a small amount but it was enough to kill him.
He died in severe pain three weeks later at University College Hospital.
The substance was polonium-210, a rare and highly radioactive isotope that a Swiss research team later identified in the exhumed remains of Yasser Arafat.
Born (August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his nickname “Abu Ammar”, Yasser Arafat was a Palestinian political leader.
He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, President of Palestine from 1989 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. Ideologically an Arab nationalist and a socialist, Arafat was a founding member of the Fatah political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004.
Meanwhile, Polonium is notoriously difficult to detect, and in Litvinenko’s case scientists confirmed its presence only hours before his death.
A former officer of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) and lifelong teetotaller, Litvinenko was extremely fit. Doctors believe his physical condition is the reason he survived as long as he did; had he died earlier, the true cause of death might never have been discovered.
Although polonium-210 occurs naturally in trace amounts, it is also manufactured for industrial use, particularly to prevent the buildup of static electricity in certain plants. As a poison, it is both efficient and discreet. It emits only alpha particles, which can be blocked outside the body by something as thin as tissue paper. Once ingested, however, it inflicts extensive internal damage as it spreads through the organs.
The radiation released by polonium generates free radicals highly reactive particles that form toxic compounds and destroy surrounding cells. Because it emits only alpha radiation, polonium can be transported safely in glass containers and does not trigger airport radiation detectors.
After ingestion, detection is extremely difficult since all radiation remains inside the body. A fatal dose may be as small as a few milligrams, delivered either as a powder or dissolved in liquid.
What Do We Know About Polonium-210 ?
Polonium-210 (210Po, Po-210, historically radium F) is an isotope of polonium. It undergoes alpha decay to stable with a half-life of 138.376 days (about 4 months, 3-4 days), the longest half-life of all naturally occurring polonium isotopes (210–218Po).
First identified in 1898, and also marking the discovery of the element polonium, 210Po is generated in the decay chain of uranium-238 and radium-226.
210Po is a prominent contaminant in the environment, mostly affecting seafood and tobacco.
Its extreme toxicity is attributed to intense radioactivity, mostly due to alpha particles, which easily cause radiation damage, including cancer in surrounding tissue.
Polonium-210 is not readily detected by common radiation detectors, because its gamma rays have a very low energy. Therefore, 210 Po can be considered as a quasi-pure alpha emitter.
Sources: Guardian, Wikipedia and Other verified News outlets.