"Clear and Present Danger" for Peoples being Poisoned with Radiation from Cigarettes by a Conspiracy
Smoke contains polonium 210 that emits radiation and generates free radicals that cause cancer (photo from Krem Kumar, facebook)
Poisoning with radioactive polonium and lead by a conspiracy
Tobacco and cigarettes contain poisons.
These poisons are polonium 210 and lead 210. Polonium 210 had been reported as used in killing Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy. Residues of polonium 210 were reported to have been found in the wardrobe of Yasser Arafat, former Palestinian leader, in a hospital in France.
Thousands all over the world die each day from lung cancer and emphysema caused by poisons in tobacco, cigar, and cigarettes. Franklin D. Roosevelt, former president of USA (1939-1945) and Mao Tse-tung, former chairman of Peoples’ Republic of China died owing to smoking.
In 1976 yet, an estimated 300,000 persons died of lung cancer in the USA owing to smoking and second hand smoke (Epstein, S. S. The Politics of Cancer. 1978).
["Clear and Present Danger" is borrowed from a movie of the same title starring Harrison Ford. The movie is about busting a drug cartel in South America.]
Punitive damages
Michael Robinson, Jr. died of lung cancer in 1996. His wife, Cynthia Johnson, filed a lawsuit with the Florida Supreme court against the R. J Reynolds, the second largest cigarette maker in USA. The Florida court imposed US$$23.6 billion as punitive damages on R.J. Reynolds.
Recently the Supreme Court of Florida, USA, convicted R. J. Reynolds for the death of Michael Johnson, Sr. from lung cancer owing to smoking. (AP. US jury slams R.J. Reynolds with $23.6 billion in damages. Business Mirror. July 21,2014:B2-4).
The Florida court has ruled that “smokers and their families need only prove addiction and that smoking caused their illnesses or death” (same source).
Hidden poisons
The cigarette industry had known all along, for over 50 years, that their product contains poisons. In 1999, after a series of lawsuits against it, the cigarette industry was forced to open documents. These showed that the industry had knowledge of the presence of polonium 210.
In 1964 yet Wilma Hunt, of the Harvard School of Public Health, found polonium in tobacco (Melpor, The Radioactive Polonium in Tobacco Leaves. hubpages.com). Dr. Dean Ornish, MD mentioned the presence of polonium in tobacco in his book “Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease” published in 1995. Dr. Elmer Cranton, MD also mentioned the presence of polonium 210 and lead 210 in tobacco in his book “Bypassing Bypass” updated second edition published in 1995.
Ban tobacco
Tobacco causes addiction, heart disease, stroke, cancer and emphysema. Despite these, some peoples unawares, or addicted, or curious or out of machismo consume tobacco and smoke cigarettes. Of course, advertizing influences a lot of people to smoke.
In the Philippines, the cost of medication of Filipinos who got afflicted with illness related to tobacco amounted to Php 188 billion. Taxes collected from tobacco products amounted to Php 30 billion. These figures were revealed by the Philippine General Hospital, a government entity, during a Senate hearing to enact a law to charge more “sin tax” from tobacco two years ago. (Php 44 to the dollar). In terms of the economy of the Philippines, tobacco is a large sink hole.
The fast selling brands in the Philippines are Philip Morris and Marlboro. Since there is no equivalent of “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” of the US, American brands and local brands have a field day in marketing cigarettes with unadulterated poisons. Philippine Congress has just enacted a law requiring cigarette makers to place pictures of the adverse effect of smoking on the packaging.
Yet the Philippine government would not move to ban smoking. Farmers growing tobacco should grow other crops, like cotton, as one alternative source of income.
Tobacco has created a social problem. Marijuana is banned in the Philippines. Tobacco should also be banned.
Tobacco has a political implication in that a lot of voters in tobacco farmers would be affected by a ban. This was taken into consideration by former Pres. Jimmy Carter of USA when he subsidized the tobacco industry in the 1970s.
Fortunately, Pres. Barack Obama signed into law in 2009 the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.” This law mandates the Federal Drug Administration to supervise the cigarette industry in removing polonium from its products. Lead 210 should be included as it is more hazardous than polonium in terms of life span in the body of a smoker or an inhaler of second hand smoke.
There is no question that tobacco and cigarette smoke are poisonous. Polonium 210 and lead 210 that tobacco contains are radioactive. When they decay into lead 206 they emit radiation like X-rays and generate free radicals. These cause mutation in the heredity material, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), resulting in tumor and cancer.
Radiation, mutation, cancer
A radioactive material is unstable. To attain stability it goes through decay called tunnelling. The radioactive polonium 210 emits alpha particles and alpha radiation, a form of energy. Alpha particles tunnel through a barrier, the nucleus. Radiation hits tissues like the DNA, the heredity material. The hydrogen bond (like in water) joins the bases of DNA together but the joints are weak.
In the hydrogen bond, there is a potential energy barrier. In both sides of this barrier are potential wells. The proton normally settles on the deeper well. However, proton can tunnel to the shallower well when hit by radiation. When replication of DNA occurs while the proton is at the shallower well, the pairing between bases of DNA is compromised (lenntech.com. Aug. 26,2014)
That is, an error in copying of the original pairing occurs resulting in mutation in DNA that can result further in tumor or cancer.
“The bases of DNA are the parts that hold the key to inheritance. The four bases are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). In the two strands of DNA, A is always complementary to (pairs with) T, and G is always complementary to C...During mitosis, the chromosomes are replicated by the unwinding and pulling apart (splitting) of the DNA strands, a new strand is formed alongside the old. The old strand serves as a template so that wherever an A occurs on the old strand, a T will be directly opposite it on the new, and wherever a C occurs on the old strand, a G will be placed on the new. Complementary bases pair with each other until two entire double-stranded molecules are formed where originally there was one” (Taylor T. E. andT. G. Field. Scientific Farm Animal Production. 1998:219-220, parenthetical supplied)
The hydrogen bond in the chromosomes are vulnerable to radiation during the splitting of duplicates. Copying error occurs.
Polonium 210, with 84 protons, decays and stabilizes at lead 206, with 82 protons. A proton is paired with an electron. There is a loss of two protons during alpha decay leaving two unpaired electrons. These unpaired electrons make for free radicals that are unstable. To stabilize itself, a free radical grabs one or two electrons from a neighboring molecule like DNA. This grabbing results in mutation of DNA.
So radiation and free radicals from the decay of polonium 210 may result in mutation of DNA that may result in tumor or cancer.
Polonium 210 originated from lead 210 with a half life of 22.5 years. Both polonium and lead are deposited in tobacco leaves. Given that the risks of mutation from one batch of polonium lasts for 138.5 years. Lead supplies batches of polonium continuously for at least 22.5 years.
If you stopped smoking now you had already ingested lead 210 that will supply polonium 210 for at least 22.5 years more.
Conspiracy
What else would you call an act of several members of an industry who sell a product containing poison? Even if the cigarette industry has been mandated to remove polonium in its products there is no assurance that it would succeed 100%. The reason is that polonium 210 is so embedded in the tissues of tobacco. So far there has been no report of FDA implementing the law, or devising a successful method in removing polonium.
In the organic farming movement, what matters is not the absence of residues of insecticides in the produce.
What matters is the absence of pesticides (weed killers, snail killers included) in growing crops. Tobacco accumulates polonium and lead from the soil and atmosphere. These ultimately originate from the sun. There is no way to deprive tobacco of polonium and lead.
In terms of killing people, there is no fundamental difference between a nuclear bomb and a consumed tobacco product (chewing tobacco, cigar, cigarette). A detonated nuclear bomb kills people. The nuclear bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 killed over 244,736 (115,106 females) people immediately. More were killed slowly by radiation. Affected fetus had defects when born and grew into adulthood (Lopez. A. A. Hiroshima A-bomb survivor appeals: Stop the suffering.Manila Bulletin. Aug. 6,2014:1).
People who contract cancer, stroke, heart disease, arthritis, emphysema and hypertension suffer for life if not treated. Affliction with cancer, stroke, emphysema and heart disease is almost always fatal.
"The Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stated that radioactivity, rather than tar, accounts for at least 90% of all smoking-related lung cancers. The Center for Disease Control concluded "Americans are exposed to far more radiation from tobacco smoke than from any other source."
“...Reynolds American Inc., which owns R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, announced it was purchasing Lorilland Tobacco Co, the country’s No. 3 cigarette maker in a $25 billion deal. That would create a tobacco company second only in the US to Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. which owns Philip Morris USA Inc.” (AP. US jury slams R.J. Reynolds with $23.6 billion in damages. Business Mirror. July 21,2014:B2-4).
Smoking as cause of illness or death
In a law suit the Florida court has ruled that “smokers and their families need only prove addiction and that smoking caused their illnesses or death”