Cigarettes contain the extremely toxic radioactive substance Polonium-210.
According to Radio Australia, the amount of radioactive Polonium-210 in cigarettes causes about 2% of cigarette-related deaths, equivalent to several thousand deaths in the US alone.
The radioactive metal in cigarettes is polonium-210. This substance was discovered by the scientist couple Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898. Polonium-210 is extremely toxic (about 250 million times more toxic than the highly toxic cyanide) and is commonly found in natural uranium.
Developed countries use organic fertilizers made from apatite rock, a natural rock that contains uranium and this substance decomposes into radioactive polonium-210, which penetrates tobacco plants through the roots and leaves.
When a cigarette burns, it reaches temperatures of 600-800 degrees Celsius, higher than the melting point of polonium. Molten polonium sticks to tiny particles in cigarette smoke and then accumulates in the human respiratory tract and lungs.
Polonium-210 has a short half-life of 138 days. It is highly radioactive and emits alpha particles into surrounding tissues. In addition to radioactive polonium-210, cigarette smoke contains a variety of chemicals that are known to cause cancer.
Tobacco companies have been hiding polonium in cigarettes for half a century. When they realized that polonium was in cigarettes, they began a secret internal research program. They even found a way to significantly reduce the amount of polonium in cigarette smoke.
At the RJ Reynolds tobacco company, a "giant" in the cigarette manufacturing industry, an internal report said "removing radioactive polonium from cigarettes would destroy commercial advantage".
People smoke about 6 trillion cigarettes a year, enough to create a long line from the Earth to the Sun and back. By 2020, cigarettes will kill about 10 million people each year. Cigarettes killed 100 million people in the 20th century and if smoking is not reduced, about 1 billion people will die from cigarettes in the 21st century./.
According to (Vietnam+) - NT
