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Saturday, November 25, 2006

Polonium-210

The cause for the death of Mr. Litvinenko, an ex-spy of Russia, is finally found out. He apparently was poisoned by someone using Polonium-210, a radioactive substance that emits alpha particles. The alpha particles are hazardous because they can damage organ and body's tissues. However they cannot pass trough skin therefore it is considered not dangerous for people who were in contact with him. Only high dose of Polonium-210 is dangerous because a very small amount of this radioactive mineral is actually present in the soil.


Mr. Litvinenko said he was killed because he was investigating the death of his close friend, a female Russian journalist, who was killed by the Kremlin government. However, the Kremlin dennied all allegations and they said they do nothing. Another theory mentioned the link to Russian Mafia, former KGB agents who became involved with illegal businesses.

Regardless whoever is responsible for the murder of Mr. Litvinenko, one thing is clear, that is anyone can kill anyone in another country by poisoning in the future. The threat to people in the UK is especially high because it has been proved that the border control is not as tight to filter any poisonuos substances being carried into the UK. This case is particularly important for the Scotland Yard detectives to solve because if this was not solved, many more crimes like this one can happen in the UK in the future, or in fact in any country in the world.

People do not use bomb or guns anymore to kill their enemies, but they use poisons. It makes remember the murder of Munir Lubis, the Indonesian pro-democracy activist. He was killed by Arsenic poison while travelling from Jakarta to Singapore with Garuda Indonesia Airways. Munir's final destination should have been the Netherlands, but he arrived there as a death body. :(

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