# It's official: Yasser Arafat's belongings were contaminated with polonium **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 16, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373 "2013-10-16T03:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/21 "2013-10-16T20:19:24Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I think we need a bias check here, people. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that if Arafat was poisoned, it was probably the Israeli government that was behind it. > > Now ask youself: if the prime suspect was _anybody_ else (the CIA, the KGB, Saddam Hussein) would you be objecting to the idea that he was poisoned so strongly? > > On the face of it, this looks rather damning. If Arafat’s 10-year-old underwear is showing high levels of Po210 contamination, then logically at the time of his death the level of contamination should have been much higher. > > Incidentally, what are the decay products of Polonium? It might be enlightening if his clothing could be tested for those. Yeah, I get the point and gave up, as it’s clear I’m not going to anything beyond “LOL!1111oneone AARAFAT PEEED ON HIMSELF!!!111oneoneone.” It’s quite funny, you have an independent lab submit its work to a highly respected, peer-reviewed journal, and you still have layman who question the results. Worse till, laymen questioning the results haven’t even looked at the paper, the methodology, or the data. Just a knee-jerk response that the data can’t be true, that it must be a lie, that he wasn’t poisoned, or that the data wasn’t properly controlled for. There’s a saying “When you hear hoofbeats behind you, it’s likely a horse,” instead you guys are arguing that the hoofbeats _could_ be those of a camel, a cow, a gazelle, or blue Beluga whale gliding through the sea. I ain’t got time for that. You guys run off Occam’s Razor if you want to, but I’m not going to don on a red cape and try to save you. Far as I’m concerned, the mod can lock the thread. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/22 "2013-10-16T20:25:48Z")
Don’t be pissy. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/23 "2013-10-16T20:27:09Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > … > > \*“Arafat’s 10-Year-Old Underwear” would be an intriguing band name. “Underpants” is funnier than “underwear”. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/24 "2013-10-16T20:28:14Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Don’t be pissy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/25 "2013-10-16T23:54:39Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > The researchers used **two controls**. The first control were unworn belongings that belonged Arafat and second control was new clothing purchased after the fact. Given the rapid half-life of polonium, the idea that \>160 mBq of radiation coming from his underwear is from cigarette smoke (10 years ago, no less) is laughable. It’s even more laughable because Arafat was not a smoker. OK, I don’t know how the units compare, but there’s apparently a significant amount of polonium in cigarettes: [Puffing on Polonium](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/opinion/01proctor.html?_r=0) – New York Times Regarding “not a smoker:” as always, smoke is smoke, no matter who lit the match. The idea that secondhand smoke is not dangerous – that smoke somehow knows the difference between a smoker and a nonsmoker – is principally propaganda from the smoking industry and its defenders. Were other people in meeting with him smoking? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/26 "2013-10-17T00:53:56Z")
Arafat was not universally loved by Palestinians and other Arabs. And they might have had better access to him. How does poisoning with Polonium work anyway? Ingestion? Skin contact? Injection (or a bullet or dart made out of the stuff)? Inhalation? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/27 "2013-10-17T01:03:44Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Yeah, I get the point and gave up, as it’s clear I’m not going to anything beyond “LOL!1111oneone AARAFAT PEEED ON HIMSELF!!!111oneoneone.” Well, he did. It’s right there in the article. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/28 "2013-10-17T01:05:09Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > OK, I don’t know how the units compare, but there’s apparently a significant amount of polonium in cigarettes: > [Puffing on Polonium](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/opinion/01proctor.html?_r=0) – New York Times > > Regarding “not a smoker:” as always, smoke is smoke, no matter who lit the match. The idea that secondhand smoke is not dangerous – that smoke somehow knows the difference between a smoker and a nonsmoker – is principally propaganda from the smoking industry and its defenders. Were other people in meeting with him smoking? I don’t know. Are you making a joke? But if you aren’t, let me ask you something, are you good at math? Because I suck, so I need you to double-check my math, k? Good! Thanks! Now, the half-life of polonium 210 is about 138 days, which, to my calculations, means that about twenty (20) half-lives have elapsed. Each half-life represents a decay of half of the material, meaning we should be able to back-calculate an approximate amount of polonium-210 Arafat was exposed to. Let’s use his used toothbrush which had 21 mBq of radioactivity. Let’s give you the benefit and assume the experiments were carried out today. Date Half Life Radioactivity of Toothbrush [ul] [li]October 16, 2013 20 21 mBq[/li][li] - 19 42 mBq[/li][li] - 18 84 mBq[/li][li] - 17 168 mBq[/li][li] - 16 336 mBq[/li][li] - 15 672 mBq[/li][li] - 14 1344 mBq[/li][li] - 13 2688 mBq[/li][li] - 12 5376 mBq[/li][li] - 11 10752 mBq[/li][li] - 10 21505 mBq[/li][li] - 9 421010 mBq[/li][li] - 8 842020 mBq[/li][li] - 7 1684040 mBq[/li][li] - 6 3368080 mBq[/li][li] - 5 6736169 mBq[/li][li] - 4 13472330 mBq[/li][li] - 3 0.364 μCi[/li][li] - 2 0.728 μCi[/li][li] **October 12, 2004 1 1.5 μCi** [/li][/ul] Whew! Now, double check that for me! We’ve back calculated the approximate amount of radioactivity on Arafat’s toothbrush to be about 1.5 μCi. Now, according to your cite, each inhaled cigarette is about 0.4 pCi, this is about 4 x 10^-7 μCi. That’s vanishingly small compared to amount Arafat must’ve been exposed to. In fact, if your cite holds, Arafat’s underwear - ten years later - would be 4.9 pCi, much, _much_ higher than the 0.4 pCi per cigarette from your NYT cite. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/29 "2013-10-17T01:09:21Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Yeah, I get the point and gave up, as it’s clear I’m not going to anything beyond “LOL!1111oneone AARAFAT PEEED ON HIMSELF!!!111oneoneone.” It’s quite funny, you have an independent lab submit its work to a highly respected, peer-reviewed journal, and you still have layman who question the results. Worse till, laymen questioning the results haven’t even looked at the paper, the methodology, or the data. Just a knee-jerk response that the data can’t be true, that it must be a lie, that he wasn’t poisoned, or that the data wasn’t properly controlled for. > > There’s a saying “When you hear hoofbeats behind you, it’s likely a horse,” instead you guys are arguing that the hoofbeats _could_ be those of a camel, a cow, a gazelle, or blue Beluga whale gliding through the sea. I ain’t got time for that. You guys run off Occam’s Razor if you want to, but I’m not going to don on a red cape and try to save you. Far as I’m concerned, the mod can lock the thread. > > - Honesty No, in this case you’re the one going beyond the evidence. Here’s a passage from the article Shmendrik linked to: > [@](#): > > It notes that the laboratory analyzed 75 samples, 38 from Arafat’s clothes and belongings and the rest from reference samples, material known to be polonium free. “Several” of the Arafat samples read notably higher than the reference material but not all. The scientists note that Arafat’s illness did not follow some of the classic lines of radiation exposure, such as immune suppression and hair loss. They also acknowledge that this doesn’t rule out radiation poisoning; that not all people respond identically and that other symptoms, such as nausea or fatigue, do fit the pattern. > > The scientists also acknowledge that the fact Arafat died in 2004 made it difficult to do precise readings of polonium-210 which is known to decay relatively rapidly (It has a half-life of 138.4 days, which means that what they found was breakdown products of that decay rather than the element itself.) “An autopsy would have been useful in this case,” the researchers say, and they recommend that in the future, when poison might be suspected, tissue and blood samples be taken and preserved for later investigation. Keep in mind these cautions were written by the same scientists who conducted the testing. So even they’re not claiming the evidence is conclusive. This is hardly the “official” ruling you say it is. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/30 "2013-10-17T01:32:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, in this case you’re the one going beyond the evidence. > > Here’s a passage from the article Shmendrik linked to:Keep in mind these cautions were written by the same scientists who conducted the testing. So even they’re not claiming the evidence is conclusive. This is hardly the “official” ruling you say it is. You don’t have to link to the article about the paper because I have the actual paper on my desktop. The authors in the supplementary appendix also wrote: [QUOTE=Lancet] The ICRP alimentary tract model and the systemic biokinetic model for polonium revised by Leggett and Eckerman were used to calculate the daily urinary excretion after an acute ingestion of 210Po, as shown in Fig. 2-SM. Regarding the poisoning of Mr Litvinenko by 210Po, Harrison et al.\*\* concluded that 0.1–0.3 GBq or more absorbed into the blood of an adult male is likely to be fatal within 1 month. This range would correspond to an intake of 1–3 GBq or more, assuming 10% absorption to blood\*\*. Considering a poisoning by ingestion of 1 GBq of 210Po, Fig. 2-SM shows that we can expect to find about 500 kBq/day in urinary excretion the first 10 days after intake, about 250 kBq/day between 10 and 20 days and about 150 kBq/day between 20 and 30 days. Assuming that about 2 ml of urine produced the stain in the underwear we tested, one could expect to have 1 kBq in the underwear in October 2004 if it was worn during the first 10 days after intake. This activity of 1 kBq would decay (T1/2 = 138.4 d) to about 1.4 mBq by February 2012. Therefore, taking into account the large uncertainties inherent to this kind of model calculation\*\* it is reasonable to expect an activity in the order of magnitude of 1-10 mBq in February 2012 in a urine stain coming from a person that incorporated 1 GBq in October 2004.\*\* \ . . . it cannot be ruled out that that the gastrointestinal syndrome would not predominate in a case of ingested 210Po. Indeed, Harrison et al. reported results from a rat study suggesting damage to the gut mucosa as a possible cause of death in a case of 210Po ingestion. Along with this statement, Scott reported that in the event of a 210Po-210 ingestion: “Death occurs via one of the two modes (among several possible modes) with the two lowest thresholds: hematopoietic and gastrointestinal”. Regarding the dose level, Harrison et al. reported that: “It is possible, therefore, that gut doses may have been substantially underestimated by not taking account of retained 210Po”. \ Finally, it should be mentioned that estimates of lethal activity and organ doses found in the literature addressing the Litvinenko case are based on standard models mainly developed for assessing cancer risk. **In case of a lethal intake, high levels of a protracted dose delivered to target organs may significantly modify the metabolism over time (biokinetics)**. **Consequently, it is not possible to conclude that the clinical features of Mr. Arafat were incompatible with 210Po poisoning**. [/QUOTE] Bet you didn’t see you that in the news report. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/31 "2013-10-17T02:15:10Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Bet you didn’t see you that in the news report. The Wired article says “They also acknowledge that this doesn’t rule out radiation poisoning; that not all people respond identically and that other symptoms, such as nausea or fatigue, do fit the pattern.” So yeah, we did. And speaking as a researcher (one who does not work with radioactivity, I hasten to add), “not possible to conclude that the clinical features of Mr. Arafat are incompatible with 210Po poisoning,” is a very nicely scientific way of saying “we can’t rule it out completely based on his symptoms.” If I thought it was more likely to be so, I wouldn’t have worded it in that fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/32 "2013-10-17T02:16:18Z")
You are correct that I don’t have the original article. As your link points out, it costs $31.50 to read the report. Which makes me wonder how many people who are making claims about what the article says have actually read it themselves. I suspect many of them have read second-hand reports which are putting their own spin on the evidence. As I said, I was quoting the article Shmendrik linked to, which people can read here: [Arafat and Polonium Poisoning: A Sort-of Update | WIRED](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/10/arafat-and-polonium-poisoning-a-sort-of-update/) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/33 "2013-10-17T02:47:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You are correct that I don’t have the original article. As your link points out, it costs $31.50 to read the report. Which makes me wonder how many people who are making claims about what the article says have actually read it themselves. I suspect many of them have read second-hand reports which are putting their own spin on the evidence. Yup, not dropping that kind of cash to read an article. (I was going to say that I wouldn’t unless I really cared about the topic, but frankly, I can’t think of anything I’d care that much about, so hey.) So it shouldn’t surprise the OP that people are making decisions not on the actual article but on other analyses, since it’s not actually easily accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/34 "2013-10-17T03:49:58Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Yup, not dropping that kind of cash to read an article. (I was going to say that I wouldn’t unless I really cared about the topic, but frankly, I can’t think of anything I’d care that much about, so hey.) **So it shouldn’t surprise the OP that people are making decisions not on the actual article but on other analyses, since it’s not actually easily accessible**. (bolding mine) This is understandable, but **Ferret Herder** , as a researcher, shouldn’t you have the Lancet on institutional subscription? I confess, I am able to get the article either through my employer or via my alma mater. Your mileage may vary. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/35 "2013-10-17T04:32:51Z")
Back up a minute - from the Lancet article posted in the OP: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by The Lancet > Toxicological elemental analyses done on his hair were unremarkable. Further investigations on several belongings did not reveal any known poison. To assess the possibility of 210Po ingestion, we focused our radiotoxicological analyses on visible body fluid stains from specific belongings (underwear, chapka, toothbrush, hospital cap, sportswear). We did 210Po analyses on 75 samples, 38 of them taken from Arafat’s belongings (see figure in appendix). The remaining 37 samples were references, which were not artificially contaminated with 210Po. These included cotton items that had been kept for 10 years and protected from dust and products of radon decay in an attic (appendix). _Several samples containing body fluid stains (blood and urine) contained higher unexplained 210Po activities than the reference samples._ Meanwhile, the Russians are saying: > [@](#): > > A Russian official said Tuesday that forensic tests found no indications of polonium poisoning in the body of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Underlining mine. So his hair and his body _don’t_ show any sign of polonium contamination but stains in (some of) his clothing do? Is that really possible? What that sounds like to me is that it someone planted something in his underpants. (Or more simply - someone screwed up somehow.) Otherwise - It wouldn’t show up in his urine if doesn’t _also_ show up in body, right? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/36 "2013-10-17T04:53:06Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > You don’t have to link to the article about the paper because I have the actual paper on my desktop. So - any explanation how Polonium is on Arafat’s underpants but [not found anywhere in his tissues](http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.552502)? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/37 "2013-10-17T12:42:26Z")
Unless Arafat’s undies and other personal items were taken by law enforcement upon his hospitalization and kept secure with proper chain of custody until being turned over to testers, there’s ample room for doubt about the significance of the findings (on that basis alone). That’s not abuse of Occam’s Razor or layman arrogance - it’s common sense. > [@](#): > > it is not possible to conclude that the clinical features of Mr. Arafat were incompatible with 210Po poisoning. Speaking as someone who’s authored peer-reviewed medical journal articles and has a good deal of familiarity with how such things are phrased\*, that’s standard boilerplate for “we don’t have confirmatory evidence, but neither can we entirely exclude the possibility”. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the poisoning theory. \*Dopers, even if they don’t want to plow through journal articles, would enjoy letters to the editor about them and responses from the author(s). I was reading the Journal of the American Medical Association last night and some writers were taking the original authors to task for alleged omissions and distortions. It’s amazing how many cultured ways there are to say “You’re full of shit”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/38 "2013-10-17T13:25:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > \*Dopers, even if they don’t want to plow through journal articles, would enjoy letters to the editor about them and responses from the author(s). I was reading the Journal of the American Medical Association last night and some writers were taking the original authors to task for alleged omissions and distortions. It’s amazing how many cultured ways there are to say “You’re full of shit”. 🙂 This seems apropos… > **[Find out How to Write an Abstract for a Scientific Paper](https://www.thoughtco.com/writing-an-abstract-for-a-scientific-paper-609106)** > > Learn how to write an abstract for a scientific paper and see examples of phrases to avoid. Two forms of abstracts are described. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/39 "2013-10-17T13:51:13Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Back up a minute - from the Lancet article posted in the OP: > > Meanwhile, the Russians are saying: > > Underlining mine. > > So his hair and his body _don’t_ show any sign of polonium contamination but stains in (some of) his clothing do? Is that really possible? What that sounds like to me is that it someone planted something in his underpants. (Or more simply - someone screwed up somehow.) > > Otherwise - It wouldn’t show up in his urine if doesn’t _also_ show up in body, right? The result from the hair is expected. If you remember your freshman biology, hair is made out of individual (dead) cells stacked on top of one another. Since these cells have to go through mitosis, accretion of polonium into hair would take longer than month he was infected. In addition, there’s no data on how polonium interacts with hair follicles, heck, in fact, if it causes the follicle cells to undergo apoptosis, there would be no hair to check (it would fall out). As for some nefarious force “planting something in his underpants.” Is that really a logical conclusion? Again, I leave you with another “If you hear hoofbeats behind you, it’s probably a horse.” - Honesty P.S Russians have NO credibility on this issue. They’re the clowns who used polonium 210 on Mr. Litvnenko and tried to cover it up. Did the Arafat’s widow give the Russians a sample? Where’s their paper? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373/40 "2013-10-17T13:52:27Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > “If you hear hoofbeats behind you, it’s probably a horse.” Or it may be a jackass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-yasser-arafats-belongings-were-contaminated-with-polonium/671373.md?page=3)