“Polonium has been linked to lung cancer from cigarettes, since tobacco plants absorb polonium excessively well and concentrate it in their leaves. Once incinerated and inhaled, the smoke ravishes lung tissue with radioactivity”
Polonium is a quite intriguing element, don’t you agree? Polonium is owner to atomic number 84 on the periodic table. It was discovered by Marie Curie in 1898 when she isolated it from a uranium ore. In other words, the decay of uranium was able to produce polonium. Just like uranium, polonium is not only radioactive, but highly unstable. Therefore, it is one of the deadliest toxins and can be quiet fatal when entering the human body.
Polonium-210, one of the twenty five isotopes of polonium, can be found in the air. It is produced from the formation of phosphorus from a phosphate rock. As a result, plants absorb the polonium through their roots. The leaves of the plant absorb the polonium from the atmosphere. Tobacco plants have are covered in sticky hairs, which makes it easier for them to catch the chemicals from the atmosphere surrounding them.
Since tobacco is a plant, it may absorb the polonium as well. Tobacco is used in cigarettes, E-cigarettes, hookah, and other smoking vesicles. By inhaling the essence of the tobacco, polonium gains access to the body. It develops in the red blood cells while it concentrates and spreads into the liver, kidneys, bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, and testicales or ovaries. As polonium spreads throughout the body, it takes electrons from any molecule in its path. As a result, damage is brought about to the DNA which further results in genetic changes that will affect the cell’s ability to reproduce. Without the reproduction of new cells, most of the cells in the body would wear out which will greatly shorten one’s lifespan. Symptoms of being exposed to polonium-210 includes nausea and vomiting, anorexia, severe hair loss, low white blood core count, diarrhea, as well as damage to bone marrow.
Fortunately, there are some treatments, such as chelation therapy, chemet, and protectant. Chelation is a treatment where the chelating agent can bind to the metal and prevent its absorption. In other words, chelation therapy uses a special form of drug that binds to the polonium metals within the blood. It comes in two forms: the chelating medicine can enter the body through an intravenous (IV) tube and into the arm and as a pill. The body removes both the medicine and the metal through the urine after the drug has attached itself to it. Chemet treatment is also a drug that binds the metals. However, instead of removing them out of the body, the chemet treatment removes the metals from the bone marrow to less fatal organs such as the kidney. It is more manageable to treat the kidney than the bone marrow. Furthermore, protectant treatment prevents the cells from self-destructing. This allows for the body to have more time to replenish itself. The efficiency of the treatment is reliant on the window of time between the expose and the treatment. All in all, the effect of a single element can determine the fate of our wellbeing in the long run.
