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[SRO]

So, I guess this is where I should post this..

It is unknown to me why such a well documented and well known fact is SO poorly circulated, especially with all the "anti smoking" organizations out there. For those who are unaware, which undoubtedly will be almost all of you, commercially grown tobacco is radioactive! It contains radioactive 210 Po (polonium) and Pb (lead). These two elements are both chemically toxic, and they both emit radiation.

What is radiation?
Radiation has two forms, particle radiation, and Electro Magnetic Radiation, or EMR.
EMR is the light we see, ultra violet rays, x rays, infrared rays, radio waves, micro waves, gamma rays and quite a few others. It is all made of the same material, with different energy levels and different wavelengths. For this argument, EMR is irrelevant, but I thought it was a good idea to give a brief summary of what it is.

Particle radiation comes in two primary forms, Alpha and Beta. (as a side note, they are more correctly labelled with the greek symbol for each respectively.)

Alpha radiation is a positively or negatively charged cluster of 2 protons, and 2 neutrons. What this means to you is fairly little, just remember that it is MUCH larger and higher energy then beta radiation, and is the more dangerous of the two.

Beta is a electron, or a positron. Anti matter, of which a positron is, is complex chemistry/physics and I won't try and get into that here, suffice to say positronic beta radiation is positively charged, and regular electron beta radiation is negatively charged. In nature, I BELIEVE only negatively charged beta exists.

For this argument the primary differences between Beta and Alpha are that beta is smaller, or able to penetrate materials further, but is less charged and does less damage. Whereas alpha is larger, has a much larger net energy and doesn't penetrate as far into materials but does much more damage to tissue if it does penetrate.

Another important note about alpha radiation since it's what we're dealing with primarily, is that while it has the lowest penetration depth, it is the single most destructive form of radiation. Our skin will stop both alpha and beta radiation very reliably without inferring genetic damage, so external exposure to alpha radiation is not harmful, however, if the source gets into your body then it is the worst form of radiation that you can be exposed to.


So, now that you've got a basic understanding of what radiation is, and the kinds we're dealing with...


Commercially grown tobacco has polonium and lead in it.. Polonium is an alpha emitter, with a small half life, so it emits lots of radiation in a short period of time. A half life is the time it takes for radioactive material to lose half its mass via radioactive decay. The half life of Uranium is over 4 billion years. The half life of 210 Polonium is 154 days approximately. The lead in tobacco is there strictly because as Polonium decays and emits radiation, it decays into lead. That is to say, that a 210 polonium atom that emits an alpha radiation particle will be a lead atom afterwards.

Where does the polonium come from?
It comes from phosphate fertilizers, it is a byproduct of their method of production, and it is introduced to the soil with the fertilizers. The effect is accumulative, the more years of using these phosphate fertilizers the more polonium ends up in your cigarettes.




This is all very basic information, if you want more information google "Polonium Tobacco" and or visit some of the links that I've posted at the bottom!

link me
link me
link me
link me

And lastly, for the person that wants the utmost in credibility because they don't want to believe the smokes they pay for and use are radioative, I present to you: A 1990 report filed by the US Surgeon General about the health benefits of cessation of smoking. (of not smoking)
Link me




I hope you all enjoy this new information, or if it's old information to you, I hope you enjoyed the presentation.

[lashmar]

Do you have any idea how happy I was to read that SRO? Hugely! I wish I was closer to you so I could buy you a beer or something. Panda has started smoking again (you have no idea how much that pissed me off, she lied to me mainly) and I’m not going to let her get away with it.

Do you have a chemical breakdown of a fag by any chance? I have a friend who I studying chemistry at Hatfield University (not far from me) and I gave him a pack of Camel Lights (the coffin nails she smokes) to undergo chemical tests and he said he’ll try to test them within the next month…do you have any chemical breakdown of cigarettes so I don’t have to wait for him to test them?

I want to know what Chemicals are in them, I don't care if it explains what they are (I can look that up myself), all I really, really need is the list of chemicals in one of them.



I knew I shouldn’t have let little one go to Burning Man…we’ve not been the same since at all, my old Panda would never have lied to me like this.

[SRO]

Reply again, and I'll find you a breakdown. For now time is limited unfortunately.

I think the most important fact I can think of, more important then what chemicals are in cigarettes, is that polonium is the only chemical present in smokes that we've been able to give rats cancer with.

[Regnad]

So sad now they put speed bumps in ciggs so they won`t stay burning. Wonder what chemical does that?  I`m a non smoker who doesn`t care if people smoke but care about the chemicals they are taking in.

[lashmar]

I`m a non smoker who doesn`t care if people smoke but care about the chemicals they are taking in.

I’m also a non-smoker (I hate fags personally, they make you stink from here to high-heaven) but I do look after people I like. I don’t personally understand what the fuck any one would smoke for (weed as well SRO) because it’s still the same general thing (you wouldn't run into a burning building though would you?) although the chemicals in fags are the thing’s that are really dangerous.

 You could come up with a list as long as your arm if you want to know which chemicals they put in fags to make them burn slower.

Would it be fair to say, SRO, that you are the better Chemist and I’m the better Biologist although we both, probably, understand both subjects better than most people (you’re much better at Physics and anything that involves math than me though lol). When we find the breakdown of a Cigarette we’ll be able to tell everyone what is in them (SRO) and what they do to you (me).

[SRO]

Well, the marijuana I smoke is grown from a source that I know doesn't use phosphate fertilizers, so I'm not taking in abnormal levels of polonium.

I've smoked it, traditionally, to not think about day to day life. Nowadays I've got it good, so I smoke it to make things fun.


I don't drink much though, so it's kind of like a replacement. I just want to be in a modified state of mind, and I see this is the easiest and healthiest way to do it, and I like where it takes me. I don't really like where alcohol takes me. Speakin' o' which, I think I'm going to roll me a "just got off school" joint.

As for the break down, this is what a brief search revealed to me.

http://medicolegal.tripod.com/toxicchemicals.htm
http://www.quit-smoking-stop.com/harmful-chemicals-in-cigarettes.html
http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a/cigingredients.htm

And this last one is a PDF
http://www.ndp.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagescm/1005/$File/chemicalcompositioncigarettesbrands.pdf

Hope that gets you started.

[SRO]

Here is another good one, it takes into account the fact that while a chemical burns it is no longer the same chemical, and therefore the chemicals you breath in aren't the same chemicals present in unburnt tobacco.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6B-48B0K6W-39&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1979&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1180009968&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cd54910f61e165e2c0b5431d8a7e4b7d

[lashmar]

I don't drink much though,

Yes unlike me. lol. I will deffently read through those so thanks mate.

Here is another good one, it takes into account the fact that while a chemical burns it is no longer the same chemical, and therefore the chemicals you breath in aren't the same chemicals present in unburnt tobacco

Are we brothers or something?  That is what I asked my friend t do but he said it would take many months and many fags to do it right, and considering he's using University equipment for his own personal needs it might have got him in trouble.

[Day_Tripper]

So...what you're telling me is that I should grow my own? 

Ever read the story about the couple who were hydroponically growing tomatoes?  The feds knocked down their door...thinking they were growing weed.  True story...Imagine what would happen if I grew tobacco in hydroponics...

[SRO]

Precisely! If you grow your own it will still tar up your lungs, but it won't be irradiating your lungs, which is what is estimated to cause 90-100% of cancer.