Health physics
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Historical Article
Chemical and radioactive carcinogens in cigarettes: associated health impacts and responses of the tobacco industry, U.S. Congress, and federal regulatory agencies.
²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb were discovered in tobacco in 1964. This was followed by detailed assessments of the nature of their deposition, and accompanying dose rates to the lungs of cigarette smokers. Subsequent studies revealed: (1) the sources and pathways through which they gain access to tobacco; (2) the mechanisms through which they preferentially deposit in key segments of the bronchial epithelium; and (3) the fact that the accompanying alpha radiation plays a synergistic role in combination with the chemical carcinogens, to increase the fatal cancer risk coefficient in cigarette smokers by a factor of 8 to 25. ⋯ S. Nuclear Navy. This unnecessary source of lung cancer deaths demands the utmost attention of the radiation protection and public health professions.