Life and Thoughts of The One Ocean

Londoners tested as Litvinenko poison fears grow

BRIAN BRADY
WESTMINSTER EDITOR
A "HUGE amount" of radioactive poison was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, a source close to the investigation into his death revealed last night, increasing fears other people could have been contaminated by Polonium-210.

As health chiefs offered medical checks to concerned Londoners, it was also revealed that an aerosol-style spray was most likely used to administer the dose, potentially spreading the poison.

Yesterday, the Health Protection Agency urged members of the public who may have come into contact with the dissident to come forward for tests. Britain's top doctor has also issued guidance to GPs on spotting possible radioactive contamination in their patients.

The dramatic alerts came amid growing concerns that Litvinenko had been attacked with a spray which deposited a fine mist of the poison over his food while he ate at a sushi bar in London earlier this month.

The revelation could explain why traces of the toxin have been found at the restaurant and at least two other places visited by Litvinenko, more than three weeks after he was targeted.

But it also raised fears that the poison may have had a greater impact than first believed.

Senior ministers and government officials held another meeting of their Cobra emergency committee to decide how to handle the growing crisis, as the air of concern surrounding the case escalated.

A senior government source last night confirmed that the amount of Polonium-210 used in the attack was "unprecedented", although experts still did not know exactly how much had been involved.

"They are piecing it together," he said. "There seems to have been a huge amount to kill just one man. They know it was Polonium but they have no idea how much we are talking about."

Polonium-210, which emits alpha radiation, is 250 billion times more poisonous than cyanide once it enters the human body.

"It's not something that's used every day in research laboratories so it has to be manufactured in a nuclear facility," said Gaia Vince, of the New Scientist magazine. "It's actually quite tricky to make. The material has to be bombarded with neutrons."

HPA chiefs last night insisted that Polonium-210 was harmless as long as it remained outside the body, but confirmed that they wanted to trace anyone who had been in "close contact" with Litvinenko since the poisoning attack.

Radioactive traces were found at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel and the Itsu sushi bar he visited on November 1, and the HPA has urged anyone else who was there on that date to contact the NHS Direct helpline.

An HPA spokeswoman said: "We expect that we are going to do [urine] tests and we expect that they are going to be negative and we have no reason to think customers are at risk."

Meanwhile, chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has issued advice to GPs and hospitals on the risks and clinical implications of exposure to Polonium-210.

Tests are also being carried out at the two London hospitals where Litvinenko had been treated, University College and the Barnet General. Professor Pat Troop from the HPA said the hospital staff who had come into contact with him would be monitored.

She said Litvinenko would have had to either eaten, inhaled or been given the dose of Polonium-210 through a wound.

A post-mortem examination on Litvinenko has not yet been held. The delay is believed to be over concerns about the health implications for those present at the examination.

Litvinenko died on Thursday night after a three-week illness that saw his hair fall out, his body waste away and his organs slowly fail.

"To most chemists, this is astonishing,'' said Dr Andrea Sella, a lecturer in inorganic chemistry at London's University College. "This is not available commercially.

"It is present in food, but only in the kind of trace quantities that can be detected by ultra-sensitive analytical techniques.

"It is one of the rarest elements on the earth's crust and also one of the most exotic."

He added: "This is not the kind of weapon that any kind of amateur could construct. It would require real resources to do it."


http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1751832006

posted by The One Ocean @ 11/26/2006 06:05:00 AM