Over the last 15 years, the hazards of smoking have received a great deal of press. Did you know that cigarette smoke also contains radioactive materials?
Cigarette smokers inhale radioactive material that, over time, results in large doses of radiation to their lungs. The smoker receives radiation exposure from radioactive polonium-214 and polonium-210 that will become radioactive lead-210.
This subject was initially investigated about 40 years ago by scientists at the School of Public Health at Harvard University. Working with physicians in the neighboring Harvard teaching hospitals, the researchers obtained the lungs of smokers who had died from lung cancer.
The researchers carefully analyzed samples from selected areas of these lungs and found that they contained relatively high concentrations of polonium-210. That Harvard studies showed that this radionuclide tended to concentrate in “hot spots” at bifurcations of segmental bronchi within the lungs, precisely the areas where lung cancer originates among cigarette smokers.
For a person who smokes 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes per day, the radiation exposure to the surface bronchial cells at bifurcations is about one chest X-ray per day.
For further information contact Environmental Health and Radiation Safety at 215-707-2520. If you have other health and safety questions, suggestions or concerns, e-mail the Health & Safety Committee at safetyawarness@temple.edu.