polonium and Neoplasms

Topics: Animals; Benzopyrenes; Cocarcinogenesis; Female; Humans; Male; Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental; Mice; Mining; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Experimental; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; Osteosarcoma; Plutonium; Polonium; Pregnancy; Quartz; Radon; Rats; Respiratory Tract Neoplasms; Smoking; Uranium

Topics: Animals; Cell Line; Cricetinae; Cricetulus; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; Fibroblasts; Humans; Neoplasms; Polonium; Radiopharmaceuticals; Radiotherapy

The first scientific paper on polonium-210 in tobacco was published in 1964, and in the following decades there would be more research linking radioisotopes in cigarettes with lung cancer in smokers. While external scientists worked to determine whether polonium could be a cause of lung cancer, industry scientists silently pursued similar work with the goal of protecting business interests should the polonium problem ever become public. Despite forty years of research suggesting that polonium is a leading carcinogen in tobacco, the manufacturers have not made a definitive move to reduce the concentration of radioactive isotopes in cigarettes. The polonium story therefore presents yet another chapter in the long tradition of industry use of science and scientific authority in an effort to thwart disease prevention. The impressive extent to which tobacco manufacturers understood the hazards of polonium and the high executive level at which the problem and potential solutions were discussed within the industry are exposed here by means of internal documents made available through litigation.

Topics: History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Neoplasms; Polonium; Radioisotopes; Smoking; Tobacco Industry

This study represents the largest epidemiologic investigation of humans exposed to the radionuclide 210Po. In a cohort of 4402 white males employed by the Mound Facility, during the period when Po operations were conducted (1944-1972), no excess mortality was observed. Among workers initially hired during World War II, mortality was elevated, especially for deaths from all cancers, cancers of the lung, and cancers of the rectum. These adverse health events do not appear related to exposure to 210Po. Among workers monitored for 210Po, mortality was significantly less than expected, although more lung cancers were observed than expected. No significant dose-response trends were identified for all causes combined, all cancers combined, or for cause-specific cancers among the Po-monitored subcohort. Continued follow-up of this cohort is planned.

Topics: Cohort Studies; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; Humans; Male; Monitoring, Physiologic; Neoplasms; New Mexico; Occupational Exposure; Polonium

Indoor radiation, especially radon exposure, has been in focus in the public domain during the past several years. The growing concern among parents of children with cancer possibly having high radiation levels in their homes led us to study the levels of gamma- and alpha-radiation levels in the homes of a group of children in the county of Ostergötland. The indoor concentration of alpha-emitting radon daughters was measured by a high-voltage method. The gamma activity was measured with a standard detector scintillation meter. The yearly average for radon-daughter concentration in both cases (57 Bq/m3) and controls (61 Bq/m3) corresponds fairly well with the national average of 53 Bq/m3. The yearly average for gamma radiation (cases 0.37 mGy, controls 0.36 mGy) is much lower than the permissible upper level in dwellings (2.5 mGy/year). The values seem to be of the same order as the subtracted cosmic radiation, which is 0.24-0.26 mGy. No appreciable difference could thus be found between cases and controls either from gamma radiation or radon-daughter exposure. We cannot from our study rule out the possibility of an effect of low-level radiation in susceptible individuals, but it seems clear that children who get cancer do not live in more radioactive homes than other children.

Topics: Adolescent; Background Radiation; Bismuth; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Construction Materials; Female; Heating; Housing; Humans; Infant; Lead; Male; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; Polonium; Radon Daughters; Sweden

When eleven brands of cigarettes were smoked in a standardized manner, differences in the polonium-210 content of various brands were found. The differences were not directly related to the presence of a filter or to the construction of the filter, but were related to the amount of particulate matter in the mainstream smoke.

Topics: Chemistry Techniques, Analytical; Filtration; Humans; Neoplasms; Nicotiana; Polonium; Radiometry; Smoke; Smoking

Polonium-210, which emits alpha particles, is a natural contaminant of tobacco. For an individual smoking two packages of cigarettes a day, the radiation dose to bronchial epithelium from Po(210) inhaled in cigarette smoke probably is at least seven times that from background sources, and in localized areas may be up to 1000 rem or more in 25 years. Radiation from this source may, therefore, be significant in the genesis of bronchial cancer in smokers.

Topics: Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; Nicotiana; Polonium; Radiation Dosage; Smoke; Smoking; Toxicology

Topics: Carcinogens; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; Polonium; Smoking

Topics: Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Humans; Incidence; Lung Neoplasms; Neoplasms; Nicotiana; Polonium; Radiation Injuries; Smoking; Toxicology; Vehicle Emissions

Topics: Autoradiography; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Experimental; Polonium; Radiation Injuries; Radiation Injuries, Experimental; Rats; Research; Sarcoma; Sarcoma, Experimental

Topics: Animals; Neoplasms; Polonium; Rats

Topics: Animals; Neoplasms; Polonium; Rats