Skip to main content
hpa logo
Topics A-Z:
Search the site:
Home › News Centre › National Press Releases ›2007 Press Releases ›  Polonium-210 as a Poison
Printer friendly page (opens in new window)

Polonium-210 as a Poison

6 March 2007

The Health Protection Agency's radiation protection experts together with colleagues from research laboratories in the USA have published a paper in the Journal of Radiological Protection 1 on how polonium-210 acts as a poison in the body. Although the unfortunate death of Mr Litvinenko in London last year stimulated this work, the paper does not examine the particular circumstances of his death. Instead the authors review published scientific evidence accumulated over decades about the biological behaviour of polonium-210 and its deleterious effects at high doses, and they estimate how much would have to be consumed to give a lethal dose.

The authors conclude that polonium-210 ingestion of 1-3 GBq or more is likely to lead to death within a few weeks, assuming 10% absorption to blood (0.1 - 0.3 GBq). On reaching the bloodstream, it would be rapidly deposited in major organs and tissues including the liver, kidneys and bone marrow. The intense alpha radiation within these tissues would result in massive destruction of living cells, leading to a rapid decline in health. Anyone receiving such doses would show symptoms of acute radiation sickness syndrome, and death would eventually result from multiple organ failure. Remedial medical treatment strategies are unlikely to be successful once significant amounts of polonium-210 have entered the blood stream and deposited in tissues, within a few hours of ingestion.

This conclusion arises primarily from an expert assessment of available experimental data, supported by human data on the biological behaviour of polonium-210 and on effects of external radiation. There is only limited information on effects of polonium-210 in humans; the data from the Litvinenko case are not currently available because they are part of a criminal investigation.

Dr Roger Cox, Director of the Agency's Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards said, "The tragic death of Mr Litvinenko in London brought the attention of the world to polonium-210. Although it is widespread in the environment in minute quantities and is familiar to most radiation scientists, the use of polonium-210 as a poison is unprecedented in our experience. This paper is an expert review of the available scientific data on polonium-210 and estimates what is a lethal quantity".

Press enquiries: telephone (01235) 822744, (01235) 822745 or (01235) 822737

 

Reference

1 J Harrison, R Leggett, D Lloyd, A Phipps, B Scott . Polonium-210 as a Poison. J Radiol Prot 2007; 27: 17-40. Available on line at http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0952-4746/27/1/001


Notes for Editors

  • The paper is accompanied by an editorial entitled, "The Polonium-210 Poisoning in London " by Dr John Stather , a Deputy Director of CRCE. This describes some of the public health and radiation protection measures that had to be instigated by the Health Protection Agency following the discovery that Mr Litvinenko's death was due to Po-210 poisoning http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0952-4746/27/1/E02. For more information on the measures taken see the updates on the HPA website at http://www.hpa.org.uk

  • The Journal of Radiological Protection is published by Institute of Physics Publishing (see http://www.iop. o rg/ ) and is the house journal of the UK 's Society for Radiological Protection (see http://www.srp-uk.org/ ). The SRP was founded in 1963 and is the Scientific Society in the UK that covers the whole field of radiological protection. It has nearly 2000 national and international members, who are professionally concerned with safety aspects of the use of ionising and non-ionising radiation in education, central and local government, industry, medicine and research.

  • The Institute of Physics is a scientific membership organisation devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics. It has an extensive worldwide membership (currently over 35,000) and is a leading communicator of physics with all audiences from specialists through government to the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics.

  • Contact: Health Protection Agency Press Office, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0RQ, www.hpa.org.uk.

    Tel: 44 (0) 1235 822744/5 Fax: 44 (0) 1235 822746 Email: chilton.pressoffice@hpa.org.uk

Last reviewed: 29 December 2008