Mission & Justice

William Birnbauer; 7/8/08

Tobacco companies have covered up for 40 years the fact that cigarette smoke contains a dangerous radioactive substance that exposes heavy smokers to the radiation equivalent of having 300 chest X-rays a year. Internal company records reveal that cigarette manufacturers knew that tobacco contained polonium-210 but avoided drawing public attention to the fact for fear of “waking a sleeping giant”. Polonium-210 emits alpha radiation estimated to cause about 11,700 lung cancer deaths each year worldwide. Russian dissident and writer Alexander Litvinenko died after being poisoned with polonium-210 in 2006. The polonium-210 in tobacco plants comes from high-phosphate fertilisers used on crops. The fertiliser is manufactured from rocks that contain radioisotopes such as polonium-210 (PO-210).

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Adele Horin; 30/7/08
Alcopops may be implicated in the increased risk girls face of dying from alcohol-related causes, a long-term study tabled in the NSW Parliament yesterday has found. The study of child deaths over a decade found the risk for girls increased by 37 per cent while for boys it declined by 17 per cent over the two periods studied, 1996 to 2000 and 2001 to 2005. As well, the risk for 14- to 15-year-olds of dying from alcohol-related causes rose dramatically - by 152 per cent over the two periods - while it declined for 16- to 17-year-olds. The study, Trends In Child Deaths In NSW 1996-2005, was compiled by the NSW Child Death Review Team to identify changes in child-death rates for specific causes and to strengthen prevention measures.

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