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Post-mortem of Alexander Litvinenko's radioactive body - 'one of the most dangerous ever undertaken'
Daily Mail ^ | 1/28/15 | Hugo Gye

Posted on 01/28/2015 3:44:43 PM PST by Libloather

Post-mortem of Alexander Litvinenko's radioactive body was 'one of the most dangerous ever undertaken in the western world' as inquiry hears it was the only case of polonium poisoning ever recorded

The post-mortem examination of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko was one of the most dangerous ever held because his body was so radioactive, an inquiry was told today.

Doctors who carried out the procedure had to wear special suits, protective gloves and hoods to prevent them being contaminated, the hearing was told.

The public inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death also heard how the Russian dissident, 43, spent three weeks in agony as his organs progressively shut down, leading eventually to the cardio-respiratory failure which killed him.

However, it was initially difficult to work out the cause of his illness because he was the only person ever on record to have been poisoned using polonium.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: autopsy; body; litvinenko; polonium; radioactive
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Polonium is a chemical element with symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Applications of polonium are few. They include heaters in space probes, antistatic devices, and sources of neutrons and alpha particles. Because of its position in the periodic table, polonium is sometimes classified as a metalloid.[3] Other sources say that on the basis of its properties and behavior, it is "unambiguously a metal".[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium

1 posted on 01/28/2015 3:44:43 PM PST by Libloather
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To: Libloather

I read somewhere that Marie Curie’s papers, even her cookbooks are still radioactive to this day. They didn’t understand the effects of ionizing radiation on tissue at the time.


2 posted on 01/28/2015 3:49:30 PM PST by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them)
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To: Libloather
This is incredibly exotic. Colorless, odorless, and harmless if contained in glass.

She said that the substance could be transported in a glass tube without any risk of alpha particles escaping.

And inside the body, incurable and eventually lethal. The one thing it won't be after this is unprecedented.

3 posted on 01/28/2015 3:54:17 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

“And inside the body, incurable and eventually lethal. The one thing it won’t be after this is unprecedented. “

PO-210 in tobacco has been considered to be one of the causes of cancer related to smoking.


4 posted on 01/28/2015 3:55:45 PM PST by TexasGator
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To: Libloather

On 24 November 2006, a posthumous statement was released, in which Litvinenko named Putin as the man behind his poisoning.[91] Litvinenko’s friend Alex Goldfarb, who was also the chairman of Boris Berezovsky’s Civil Liberties Fund, claimed Litvinenko had dictated it to him three days earlier. Andrei Nekrasov said his friend Litvinenko and Litvinenko’s lawyer had composed the statement in Russian on 21 November and translated it to English.[92]

Putin disputed the authenticity of this note while attending a Russia-EU summit in Helsinki and claimed it was being used for political purposes.[93][94] Goldfarb later stated that Litvinenko, on his deathbed, had instructed him to write a note “in good English” in which Putin was to be accused of his poisoning. Goldfarb also stated that he read the note to Litvinenko in English and Russian and Litvinenko agreed “with every word of it” and signed it.[91]

His autopsy took place on 1 December at the Royal London Hospital’s institute of pathology. It was attended by three physicians, including one chosen by the family and one from the Foreign Office.[95] Litvinenko was buried at Highgate Cemetery (West side) in north London on 7 December.[96] The police are treating his death as murder, although the London coroner’s inquest is yet to be completed.[97][98] On 25 November, two days after Litvinenko’s death, an article attributed to him was published by The Mail on Sunday entitled “Why I believe Putin wanted me dead”.[99]

Source: Wikipedia


5 posted on 01/28/2015 3:58:25 PM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Libloather

6 posted on 01/28/2015 3:59:38 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Obama;America's First "Third World" President)
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To: TexasGator
PO-210 in tobacco has been considered to be one of the causes of cancer related to smoking.

I'd heard something like that but never thought to check it out. Good grief - the stuff has a half-life of 138 days. Unless you knew to look you'd never find it in the body. I wonder if anyone's thought to take a Geiger counter to a display full of packs of cigarettes...

7 posted on 01/28/2015 4:01:18 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Libloather

Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB officer turned Russian deputy accused by Britain of killing Alexander Litvinenko

8 posted on 01/28/2015 4:21:25 PM PST by Brother Cracker (You are more likely to find krugerrands in a Cracker Jack box than 22 ammo at Wal-Mart)
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To: Gay State Conservative

“No such thing as an ex-KGB man”


9 posted on 01/28/2015 4:31:53 PM PST by Morpheus2009
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To: Libloather

That autopsy qualifies as the archetypal “dirty job”. The people who performed it did their duty.


10 posted on 01/28/2015 4:40:27 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Billthedrill

It’s also impossible for anyone to manufacture unless they have a nuclear reactor. That basically narrows the list of suspects down to the governments of nations in the “nuclear club”, and only one of them had any motive here.

It’s harder to think of a more clear cut case of political assassination that can be traced directly back to a major government in recent times.


11 posted on 01/28/2015 4:45:31 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: Libloather

Someone said in another thread that even if you had someone with some polonium, in a teapot or wherever, the situation could arise where it becomes a public danger as well.


12 posted on 01/28/2015 5:06:17 PM PST by BeadCounter
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To: Pearls Before Swine

For sure. They were very brave.

May God rest the soul of the poor victim. Sounds like a horrible death.


13 posted on 01/28/2015 5:26:50 PM PST by Bigg Red (Let's put the ship of state on Cruz Control with Ted Cruz.)
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To: Libloather

> ... he was the only person ever on record to have been poisoned using polonium.

Not true. Yasser Arafat was also killed by Polonium poisoning.


14 posted on 01/28/2015 5:30:54 PM PST by BuffaloJack (When did the 2nd amendment suddenly require a license or permit for a gun?)
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To: BuffaloJack
Yasser Arafat was also killed by Polonium poisoning.

So that would make a total of two muslim supporters of muslim terrorism killed by polonium poisoning.

15 posted on 01/29/2015 12:29:39 AM PST by Ethan Clive Osgoode (<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
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To: Bigg Red
May God rest the soul of the poor victim. Sounds like a horrible death.

Well Litvinenko was given a muslim burial, so perhaps you mean, may allah rest his soul.

16 posted on 01/29/2015 12:31:08 AM PST by Ethan Clive Osgoode (<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
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To: Ethan Clive Osgoode

Well, I don’t know if this qualifies as a mohammedan burial:

But, as the coffin was lowered into the grave, the funeral was interrupted by a Muslim imam invited by one of Litvinenko’s friends, Akhmed Zakayev.

The preacher said Islamic prayers over the body of Alexander Litvinenko according to what Zakayev says were the spy’s last wishes.

Litvinenko’s wife, Marina, by contrast had wanted a non-denominational service at the grave. The split reflected a division over whether Litvinenko had converted to Islam the day before he died.

FROM: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1536328/Litvinenko-laid-to-rest-in-historic-Highgate.html?moebile=basic

&&&&
Sounds like Litvinenko just wanted to denounce Russia when he acted chummy with moHAMheads. The one claiming he had converted was likely taking advantage of a dying man who was incapable of thinking clearly.

I trust Litvinenko went to the one true God and not to Satan, aka allah.


17 posted on 01/29/2015 7:01:41 AM PST by Bigg Red (Let's put the ship of state on Cruz Control with Ted Cruz.)
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To: Libloather

I always wonder why he was killed by that method - assasins of that type could use any means - why such a dangerous and noticeable substance?


18 posted on 01/30/2015 2:12:55 AM PST by BlackVeil ('The past is never dead. It's not even past.' William Faulkner)
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To: Bigg Red
I trust Litvinenko went to the one true

According to Livinenko's father, Livinenko converted to islam.

You should stop promoting this pro-chechen idiot. Promoting pro-chechens isn't doing your cause (whatever it is) much good.

19 posted on 01/30/2015 2:40:05 AM PST by Ethan Clive Osgoode (<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
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To: trisham

Wouldn’t his body have still been radioactive after he died? I wonder what precautions they took with the burial?


20 posted on 01/30/2015 2:56:24 AM PST by kalee
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