Polonium smoke warning ads pulled

crashuk · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:10

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6168887.stm

"The Department of Health said it was "inappropriate" to show the ad, which shows cigarettes contain polonium 210."

"Some mats which were sent out early to pubs in the West Country, saying 'Where do you find polonium? In cigarettes'.

They caused some concern locally, and have now also been withdrawn.
"

Well they want people to stop smoking then place those adverts, and we know more about this polonium due to recent events.

The_blue · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:13

Heard the one with the new scotland yard museum.

Was on about cyanide in murders and in fags.

Clarkey · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:15

i think the average briton is smart enough to figure out that smokers don't die from radiation poisoning.

Tru · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:16

Does this affect Polony? Because I eat loads of the stuff.

robmiller · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:18

Tru said:
Does this affect Polony? Because I eat loads of the stuff.

do you eat the ones with the bears on them

Pebbles · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:18

Tru said:
Does this affect Polony? Because I eat loads of the stuff.

Only if you're a spy

Tru · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:27

robmiller said:
do you eat the ones with the bears on them

I've not noticed any but then I'm not one for studying food.

furnace · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:29

Supposedly the fetiliser used to grow tobacco is carcinogenic, and a percentage of the cancer risk from tobacco could be gotten rid of if they didn't use that fertiliser...

Don't ask where I heard that from - I'm not saying it's true

aardvark · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:33

someone in th lab told me they saw an advert recently where someone had a bottle of benzene and they put on huge rubber gloves etc and then said - thats how people treat benzene and its in fags - lol - ridiculous - benzene isn't that bad and an experienced chemist would never wear such excessive protection for it, but thats the media for you.

Indy500 · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:35

Benzene is a carcinogen.

aardvark · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:36

sr4470 said:
Benzene is a carcinogen.

lots of things are - i use it, and a lot worse, all the time.

trojan698 · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:38

Clarkey said:
i think the average briton is smart enough to figure out that smokers don't die from radiation poisoning.

The radiation can be held partially responsible for the mutation of healthy cells into cancer cells. So it's not directly caused by radiation poisoning per se, but contributes to the formation of the cancer.

Indy500 · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:42

aardvark said:
lots of things are - i use it, and a lot worse, all the time.

Well, I'd say it was only a problem if you ever ingested it or it was formed inside the body.

aardvark · 12 Dec 2006 at 14:59

trojan698 said:
The radiation can be held partially responsible for the mutation of healthy cells into cancer cells. So it's not directly caused by radiation poisoning per se, but contributes to the formation of the cancer.

there was an interesting tv programme recently that showed there is little or no evidence for low level radiation being harmful at all - just because a large amount is dangerous doesn't mean that a small amount is still dangerous (but less so) - there is lots of background radiation everywhere - i bet if you went outside in a sunny day you get a higher radiation does than the polonium in fags.

Fishman · 12 Dec 2006 at 15:02

aardvark said:
lots of things are - i use it, and a lot worse, all the time.

You use a lot worse all the time, such as.

Benzene is pretty high up the list of known/suspected carcinogens and it isnt big or clever to show off about using it all the time

On what scale have you been using it.

aardvark · 12 Dec 2006 at 15:11

Fishman said:
You use a lot worse all the time, such as.

Benzene is pretty high up the list of known/suspected carcinogens and it isnt big or clever to show off about using it all the time

On what scale have you been using it.

it really isn't as dangerous as people make out - most of the time i use toluene instead anyway.
chloroform is worse and i use that all the time (cue jokes).
i use sodium cyanide - really not that dangerous.
things like dimethylsulphate are infinitely more dangerous than benzene, but benzene is the one the media like to talk about and hype up. Like mercury, it really isn't as bad as people think.

Sleepy · 12 Dec 2006 at 15:19

aardvark said:
there was an interesting tv programme recently that showed there is little or no evidence for low level radiation being harmful at all - just because a large amount is dangerous doesn't mean that a small amount is still dangerous (but less so) - there is lots of background radiation everywhere - i bet if you went outside in a sunny day you get a higher radiation does than the polonium in fags.

There is a lot of difference between low levels of back ground radiation and alpha radiation from a source within the lung.

Indy500 · 12 Dec 2006 at 15:22

aardvark said:
mercury isn't as bad as people think.

Provided you dont ingest or breathe it in.

aardvark · 12 Dec 2006 at 15:27

Sleepy said:
There is a lot of difference between low levels of back ground radiation and alpha radiation from a source within the lung.

there are low levels of polonium 210 everywhere - inside everybody - but they are really really low. there is always background radiation in everybody - you can't escape it.

and to the other quote above - you could probably eat mercury and it would have very little effect - and only an extended period of breathing the fumes from hot mercury will make you mad (like the hatters - which took many years of constant exposure)

Sleepy · 12 Dec 2006 at 15:55

aardvark said:
there are low levels of polonium 210 everywhere - inside everybody - but they are really really low. there is always background radiation in everybody - you can't escape it.

An unavoidable consequence of living, however smoking does mean that the smoker takes in Po-210 directly into their lungs which over time greatly increase their exposure to radiation. And as Po210 is an alpha source it does significantly more damage than other radiation people are naturally exposed to.