Notes:
-a rare radioactive isotope called polonium 210, is far more widespread than many of us realize
- people worldwide smoke almost six trillion cigarettes a year, and each one delivers a small amount of polonium 210 to the lungs.
-polonium may not be the primary carcinogen in cigarette smoke, it may nonetheless cause thousands of deaths a year in the U.S. alone
- In June 2009 President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law.
-The legislation brings tobacco for the first time under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration, allowing the agency to regulate certain components of cigarettes.
-One day in 1964, she decided to test on cigarette ash.
-No other organic material Hunt had researched, including plants, had tested negative for polonium when radium was present. But at the temperatures of smoldering tobacco, polonium turns into vapor. So, she suddenly realized, the missing polonium must have gone up in smoke!
-Martell was concerned with the buildup of polonium 210 in particular areas of the lung-High exposure associated with a lifetime of smoking would leave the smoker at a risk of cancer despite the low dose of polonium 210 per cigarette
-Tobacco industry continued to monitor external research on the subject and to explore solutions of the polonium problem.
-1.3 million people die of lung cancer every year. 90% because of smoking
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Reflection:
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