Constantin Papastefanou found that radium (Ra-226 and Ra-228) and polonium (Po-210), which are radionuclides (ionizing radiation) found naturally in tobacco leaves, is up to one thousand (1,000) times more radioactive than the artificially-made radionuclide cesium (Ce-137) found on plant leaves from the fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which occurred in 1986.

Chernobyl is located in the northern part of the Ukraine.

Scientists consider Po-210 as one of the most hazardous radioactive materials known. Its toxic effects are felt only when it is inhaled or ingested. Po-210 is found naturally in the environment, and all people have small but measurable amounts of it in their body through water, food, and air. However, concentrated amounts of Po-210 are found in tobacco leaves. Thus, users of tobacco products are much more likely to have higher levels of this radioactive element in their bodies.

Papastefanou is a scientist with the Atomic and Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Greece).

In his study, Papastefanou calculated the average amount of radiation that adult smokers take in from 30 cigarettes per day in fifteen locations within Greece. He then compared that amount with the radiation found in leaves near the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Papastefanou found that the average dose from tobacco leaves was 251.5 microsieverts per year (μSv/y) and 0.199 μSv/y from Chernobyl leaves. The naturally occurring radiation from tobacco in cigarettes was about three orders of magnitude higher than the man-made radiation from Chernobyl .

Papastefanou states that the radiation dose from smoking is only about 10% of the average dose that an average person gets from all natural sources. However, he also states that even that small percentage adds an increased risk to smokers.

As quoted from New Scientist magazine (June 2-8, 2007), Papastefanou states: “Many scientists believe that cancer deaths among smokers are due to the radioactive content of tobacco leaves and not to nicotine and tar.”

The results of Papastefanou, titled “Radiation Dose From Cigarette Tobacco”, appear in the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry, volume 123, page 68.

The abstract appears within the website of the Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press: http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ncl033v1.

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