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Issue # 74 - March/April 1982

This issue's column was guest-written—for Dr. Tom Ferguson—by the managing editor

Michael Castleman

For decades, scientists researching the health effects of cigarette smoking have observed a correlation between that habit and such illnesses as heart disease, lung cancer, and other tumors . . . but they've never been able to prove just how such a relationship might be brought about. Of course, it makes sense that cigarette smoke, which contains many proven carcinogens, could cause lung cancer from the simple accumulation of the harmful substances over a period of time . . . but—despite the fact that tens of millions of dollars have been spent on research—scientists still don't understand exactly why smokers face such a high risk of developing bladder and pancreatic cancers or atherosclerosis.

Now, however, a small group of medical experts—all of whom are highly respected specialists in the field of radiation hazard researchhave proposed an unusual (and frightening) explanation of the devastating health consequences of cigarette smoking. For the past 16 years, this group has gathered evidence to support what they call the "warm particle theory". Their line of reasoning asserts that insoluble low-level alpha-emitting radioactive particles in cigarette smoke trigger the majority of diseases associated with smoking. Or, to phrase it more directly: These experts claim that cigarettes are actually radioactive!

Tobacco, like all other organic matter—including soil, food, water, and our bodies—contains trace amounts of radioactive isotopes, most of which are soluble in water. When those particles enter the human body (which is more than 90% water), they are suspended in solution and then quickly and safely excreted.

Most tobacco-related radioactivity, therefore, simply washes out of the lungs. But some other radioactive particles are insoluble, so they accumulate in the lungs and bombard delicate tissue with low-level alpha radiation . . . the same kind of radia tion emitted by plutonium! Now alpha particles aren't particularly dangerous outside the body, but inside—and particularly in the lungs—they pose a serious health hazard.

According to Dr. John Gofman (former director of biomedical research at Lawrence Livermore Lab, author of the recently published book Radiation and Human Health, and subject of the Plowboy Interview in MOTHER NO. 68), the presence of even one one-millionth of a gram of plutonium in the lung virtually guarantees the development of cancer there within 20 years!