# Radioactive cigarettes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radioactive-cigarettes/1451>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 23, 1999, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radioactive-cigarettes/1451 "1999-06-23T21:33:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 1999, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radioactive-cigarettes/1451/1 "1999-06-23T21:33:00Z")

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OK, being in charge of radition safety in my lab (Gawd help us all), I was doing research on radiation in general when the web turned up this tidbit:

A two-pack a day smoker encounters 1300 millirem a year more than a nonsmoker due to the presence of polonium-210 in cigarettes.

Why is polonium in cigarettes? I’m assuming it’s a by-product of manufacturing, since it’s very rare as a natural element. One site listes these uses of polonium:

- Mixed or alloyed with beryllium to provide a source of neutrons
- Used for eliminating static charges in textile mills
- Used on brushes for removing dust from photographic films
- Thermoelectric power in space satellites

Anyone know for a fact what the polonium is there for? I mean I can handle tar gluing up my lungs and free radicals blasting apart my proteins but I gotta worry about alpha particles too now?

Oh yeah, check out this site for more motivation to quit smoking:

[http://www.healthdept.co.pierce.wa.us/tobacco/cessation/chemical.html](http://www.healthdept.co.pierce.wa.us/tobacco/cessation/chemical.html)  
Alphagene

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 1999, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radioactive-cigarettes/1451/2 "1999-06-23T21:39:00Z")

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Oh, never mind. The next site I looked at told me:

From: [http://erowid.org/entheogens/tobacco/tobacco\_inf.shtml](http://erowid.org/entheogens/tobacco/tobacco_inf.shtml)

> [@](#):
>
> Martell and Sweder (14) report that indoor radon decay products (including Po-210) that pass from the room air through burning cigarettes into mainstream smoke are present in large, insoluble smoke particles

So I got it covered, here. Go about your business.  
Alphagene