# Thallium Poisoning? The KGB Has Not Lost Its Touch.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 20, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086 "2006-11-20T00:23:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/1 "2006-11-20T00:23:37Z")
[British police probe ex-spy’s poisoning](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061119/ap_on_re_eu/britain_russian_spy_4)
[The police must now treat this as an urgent case of attempted murder. Their inquiries will naturally focus on Mr Litvinenko’s meeting with an Italian at a Japanese restaurant in London, although the sushi may be a red herring.](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2462033,00.html)
In the rice, or [Ricin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov) , these guys still play for keeps.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/2 "2006-11-21T05:08:28Z")
And don’t forget [Viktor Yushchenko](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1393172,00.html).
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/3 "2006-11-21T06:26:27Z")
It can’t be Putin. Bush looked into his soul and saw that he was good.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/4 "2006-11-21T06:38:09Z")
[QUOTE=Squink]
Their inquiries will naturally focus on Mr Litvinenko’s meeting with an Italian at a Japanese restaurant in London, although the sushi may be a red herring.
[/quote]
Mmmm, red herring with heavy metal. I think it’s more probable that the poisoning happened not when Litvinenko met with Mario Scaramella for sushi, but earlier that day, when [he met with two Russians, one of them a former KGB agent.](http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/20/uk.spypoisoned.ap/index.html)
I read in a New York Times article that a grenade was thrown into his home some time ago.
This shouldn’t shock me after what happened to Yuschenko, I guess. But it does. Not that I think much of George W. Bush, but I’m amazed he is comfortable smiling and joking with “Pooty-poot.” All of which remains true even if Putin isn’t involved with this.
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### Author:  [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/5 "2006-11-24T12:01:31Z")
Hmm. Can’t find any other threads on this. 😕
Well, [he’s gone](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/6178890.stm).
Apparently both thallium and radioactivity poisoning have been ruled out. They either don’t have a clue what happened, or they’re not saying.
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/6 "2006-11-24T12:17:43Z")
Some odd objects were detected in his lower digestive tract, now the unfortunate sod’s dead the doctors can perhaps find out what they are.
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### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/7 "2006-11-24T12:22:41Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin]
Some odd objects were detected in his lower digestive tract, now the unfortunate sod’s dead the doctors can perhaps find out what they are.
[/QUOTE]
The doctors say the “objects” are most likely shadows [caused by Prussian Blue](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6176004.stm), which is used to treat thallium or cesium poisoning.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/8 "2006-11-24T14:51:34Z")
They are now saying it was Polonium poisoning.
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### Author:  [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/9 "2006-11-24T15:05:23Z")
The smart money’s on neodymium.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/10 "2006-11-24T15:33:05Z")
I’m betting on the Beijing Cocktail, myself.
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### Author:  [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/11 "2006-11-24T17:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=Morgyn]
The doctors say the “objects” are most likely shadows [caused by Prussian Blue](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6176004.stm), which is used to treat thallium or cesium poisoning.
[/QUOTE]
Huh, I always thought that was a white supremest girl-band!
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/12 "2006-11-24T17:59:32Z")
Hmmm. This morning, the news sites were saying he’d been poisoned with a radioactive substance. Now they’re back to “unknown illness.”
I guess when Russian intelligence punches your clock, you’re done :eek:
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/13 "2006-11-24T18:08:25Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman]
Hmmm. This morning, the news sites were saying he’d been poisoned with a radioactive substance. Now they’re back to “unknown illness.”
I guess when Russian intelligence punches your clock, you’re done :eek:
[/QUOTE]
He was poisoned with Polonium 210, source unknown.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/14 "2006-11-24T20:16:41Z")
[QUOTE=Struan]
He was poisoned with Polonium 210, source unknown.
[/QUOTE]
[Sounds like it happened at the sushi restaurant.](http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/24/uk.spypoisoned/index.html)
> [@](#):
>
> “Traces of Polonium-210 were found at the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly, the Millennium Hotel, Grosvenor Square, and at Mr. Litvinenko’s home in Muswell Hill, London,” Scotland Yard said in a statement. “We are not prepared to discuss further.”
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/15 "2006-11-25T02:07:42Z")
[QUOTE=Struan]
They are now saying it was Polonium poisoning.
[/QUOTE]
named after Polonius, Ophelia’s father? 😕
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/16 "2006-11-25T02:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL]
named after Polonius, Ophelia’s father? 😕
[/QUOTE]
Named after Poland, the homeland of Marie Curie (who discovered it along with her husband.)
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### Author:  [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/17 "2006-11-25T03:06:27Z")
That goes to show you…you just don’t fuck with the KGB. For the same reasons, you don’t fuck with Suge Knight, either.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/18 "2006-11-28T19:11:48Z")
Something just occured to me: **No one** is asking where the polonium came from if the Russian government _wasn’t_ behind this. IIRC, it’s not something you’d be able to find in say a medical lab, so if it didn’t come from the Russian government, where did it come from? Given that there’s supposedly a huge blackmarket for radioactive materials, you’d think that people would be asking that question.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/19 "2006-11-28T19:21:11Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan]
Something just occured to me: **No one** is asking where the polonium came from if the Russian government _wasn’t_ behind this. IIRC, it’s not something you’d be able to find in say a medical lab, so if it didn’t come from the Russian government, where did it come from?
[/QUOTE]
[You can buy polonium-210 on the Internet](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/28/MNGHSML5LM1.DTL).
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thallium-poisoning-the-kgb-has-not-lost-its-touch/381086/20 "2006-12-13T15:45:10Z")
From [_The Nation’s_ website,](http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=147021) 12/10/06:
> [@](#):
>
> But what is also emerging, as the investigation and radioactivity spread to Germany, is an alternative hypothesis, a counter-story–focusing on the business dealings of members of Russia’s private security industry and the security (and health) risks posed by trafficking of the dangerous (and extremely valuable) radioactive isotope polonium 210.
>
> (To its credit, the New York Times’s William Broad–in two stories, “Polonium, $22.50 Plus tax,” Dec. 3, 2006, and “US and Foreign Regulators Consider Tightening Controls on Deadly Polonium 210,” Dec. 10–debunked the conventional media line that only the Kremlin had the wherewithal to administer a lethal dose. Broad writes that “public and private inquiries have shown that it proliferated quite widely during the nuclear era, of late as an industrial commodity.”)
See also [Edward J. Epstein’s blog.](http://edjayepstein.blogspot.com/)
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