Alexander V. Litvinenko in his hospital bed in London on Nov. 20.
This story about the poisoned former spy gets more and more unbelievable. Tragically he died earlier this week, after being very sick for 3 weeks. Yesterday British authorities announced that the very rare, very radioactive substance polonium 210 was found in his body.
From the NY Times:
If substantial amounts of polonium 210 were used to poison Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy who died Thursday, whoever did it presumably had access to a high-level nuclear laboratory and put himself at some risk carrying out the assassination, experts said today.
There is no antidote, and handling it in a laboratory requires special equipment. But to be fatal, it must be swallowed, breathed in or injected; the alpha particles it produces cannot penetrate the skin. So it could theoretically be carried safely in a glass vial or paper envelope and sprinkled into food or drink by a killer willing to take the chance that he did not accidentally breathe it in or swallow it.
“This is wild,” said Dr. F. Lee Cantrell, a toxicologist and director of the San Diego division of the California Poison Control System. “To my knowledge, it’s never been employed as a poison before. And it’s such an obscure thing. It’s not easy to get. That’s going to be something like the KGB would have it in some secret facility or something.”
More background here.
Great article from the Guardian addressing the questions, who did this? and why?
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