Polonium 210Po in cigarettes produced in Poland

210Po secretion from sweat glands

The results of the research indicated that the ²¹⁰Po activity concentration in sweat samples was between 0.22 ± 0.03 to 2.10 ± 0.15 mBq·g^-1 d.w. The obtained results of the studies showed that smoking and eating fish led to higher activity concentrations of ²¹⁰Po in sweat in comparison to the control group. Statistical analysis of ²¹⁰Po activity concentrations in sweat samples showed significant differences between control, smoking, fish eating and age groups, while no significant differences was found for ²¹⁰Po between volunteers as far as gender is concerned.

Long lived gamma emitting radionuclides in incense

A study of long-lived gamma emitters in incense was performed. The incense samples originated from seven different countries, and the investigated radionuclides were Ra, Ra, and K. Gamma spectroscopy revealed the presence of all three investigated radionuclides in all samples. Interestingly, the activity concentrations revealed a clear bimodal distribution that distinguished samples that were natural incense from others that were processed incense. The activity concentrations in the latter group were found to be one order of magnitude greater than in the former group. Consequently, the estimated annual effective dose from the latter group was one order of magnitude higher than that of the former group. Nonetheless, the doses from both groups were found to be some three orders of magnitude less than the average worldwide exposure to inhaled natural radionuclides. This finding suggests the radiological safety of incense for the investigated radionuclides.

Polonium 210Po activities in human blood of patients with ischaemic heart disease from Gdańsk in Poland

The determination of polonium ²¹⁰Po in human blood samples is presented and discussed in this paper. The human blood samples were collected from patients of Medical University of Gdańsk with ischaemic heart disease (morbus ischaemicus cordis, MIC). The polonium concentrations in analyzed human blood samples are very differentiated. ²¹⁰Po is of particular interest in public health and although is present in the environment in extremely low amounts, it is easily bioaccumulated to the human body. The study shows that the amount of ²¹⁰Po that is incorporated into the human body depends on the food habits and some difference in its levels could be observed between smokers and non-smokers.