Heavens the poor man must have died a very painful death. how on earth did?

Question

radio active material stay in the intestine without being detected.

Alexander Litvinenko.

Answer 1

The man was poisoned with a radioisotope called polonium210.
4 grains of this substance is enough to kill and is tasteless when ingested.
The reason that it took so long to detect is because it is an Alpha emitter. Alpha particles are not detected by a Geiger counter and the didn't suspect polonium210 because its so rare. It can only be obtained from nuclear reactors by bombarding a substance with neutrons. Polonium210 only attacks living tissue meaning it can be stored in a paper bag and be safe but once ingested you are doomed. A horrible way to go.

Answer 2

The polonium 210 isotope doesn't emit gamma rays - which is what a Geiger counter would detect. Instead it emits alpha particles - these don't travel very far through solid matter, and doesn't pass through the skin. So once the polonium is inside his body, it would be very hard to detect. They actually found it by analysis of his urine.

Answer 3

I thought the whole thing was quite mysterious really. Every time the Dr's came out of the hospital to give an update report they kept saying it was still unclear what the poison was. I don't believe that, I think they knew exactly what was wrong with him and knew he would die, I'm sure the government had a say in what was to be made public.

Answer 4

I wondered the same thing. He'd been in hospital for ages and only hours before he died did they x-ray him and find some foreign (radioactive) object in his stomach.

It all stinks of a non-Russian based conspiracy to me, almost as if someone was trying to frame the Russians.

Answer 5

Once it was in him, it was too late, detected or not.
In poisoning cases, radiation is not the first thing to come to mind.

Answer 6

erm... we dont have geiger counters handy most the time...

and it was detected when he died...

so i fully admit that it was a very unpleasant way to go out... but your question is daft... we dont just say to ourselves every now and then 'i know, i'll go to my local nuclear plant and see if they can tell me if i'm irradiated'

Answer 7

Boudica-Princess Warrior, you should know that answer, after all, you are known to have poisoned a few men yourself.

Answer 8

That's the fecking Russians for you!