<\/p>\n
Comment posted by BO<\/p>\n
Nicotine\u2019s a vasoconstrictor and that combined with the carbon monoxide puts a load on your heart when you do heavy exercise. Add in the heavy metals such as cadmium that tobacco naturally accumulates from soils, and which is part of why smokers have elevated kidney cancer stats, plus tobacco\u2019s natural radioactivity absorption from soils and the atmosphere, and it\u2019s a bad bet all around.<\/p>\n
Tobacco plants primarily draw\u00a0radium-226<\/strong>,\u00a0radium-228<\/strong>,\u00a0uranium-238<\/strong>, and\u00a0potassium-40<\/strong>\u00a0from the soil through root uptake.<\/p>\n While\u00a0polonium-210<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0lead-210<\/strong> are the highly toxic radioactive isotopes most famously associated with tobacco and lung cancer, they actually enter the plant through two distinct pathways:<\/p>\n 1. Root Uptake from the Soil<\/p>\n Tobacco plants are efficient heavy metal accumulators. Through their roots, they pull up primordial radionuclides naturally present in the earth or concentrated by high-phosphate fertilizers:<\/p>\n Radium (Radium-226 and Radium-228):<\/strong>\u00a0Readily absorbed by the roots. Once inside the plant, radium eventually decays into radon, lead, and ultimately polonium.<\/p>\n Potassium-40:<\/strong>\u00a0A naturally occurring radioactive isotope of potassium absorbed as a standard nutrient.<\/p>\n Uranium-238 & Thorium-232:<\/strong>\u00a0Drawn from soils heavily treated with apatite rock-based phosphate fertilizers.<\/p>\n 2. Atmospheric Absorption (The Main Source of Polonium)<\/p>\n The highest concentrations of\u00a0polonium-210<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0lead-210<\/strong>\u00a0on tobacco leaves do not come directly from root uptake. Instead, they are captured from the air:<\/p>\n Radium in the soil\/fertilizer decays into\u00a0radon-222<\/strong>\u00a0gas, which rises into the air around the crop.<\/p>\n As radon decays in the atmosphere, it turns into lead-210 and polonium-210.<\/p>\n These airborne radioactive particles land on the tobacco leaves and become permanently trapped by\u00a0trichomes<\/strong>\u2014the sticky, microscopic hairs on the underside of the leaves.<\/p>\n When tobacco is lit, these accumulated radioisotopes are vaporized and inhaled directly into the lungs.<\/p>\n