Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Applied Biosystems - Cells to CT

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 19 August 1966:
Vol. 153. no. 3738, pp. 880 - 882
DOI: 10.1126/science.153.3738.880
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Source of Lead-210 and Polonium-210 in Tobacco

T. C. Tso 1, Naomi Harley 2, and L. T. Alexander 3

1 Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
2 Health and Safety Laboratory, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, New York
3 Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland

Test plants were grown within a chamber enriched with radon-222 in the atmosphere, in tobacco fields with different sources of phosphate-containing fertilizer, and in culture containing lead-210 in the nutrient solution. Harvested leaves were subjected to three curing conditions. The major portion of the lead-210 in the plant was probably absorbed through the roots. Airborne radon 222 and its daughters contributed much less to the plant's content of lead-210 and of polonium-210.The stage of leaf development and the methods used to cure the leaf affected the final amount of polonium-210 in tobacco leaf.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radiation dose from cigarette tobacco.
C. Papastefanou (2007)
Radiat Prot Dosimetry 123, 68-73
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Effect of Smoking on the Level of Ionising Radiation in Student Rooms.
O. F. Tekbas, S. A. Vaizoglu, M. Gulec, and C. Guler (2003)
Indoor and Built Environment 12, 197-200
   Abstract »    PDF »
Smoking and Risk of Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Results from a Los Angeles County Case-Control Study.
J. M. Pogoda, S. Preston-Martin, P. W. Nichols, and R. K. Ross (2002)
Am. J. Epidemiol. 155, 546-553
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Experimental Tobacco Carcinogenesis.
E. L. Wynder and D. Hoffmann (1968)
Science 162, 862-871
   PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products