RadioFreePirate

From the land of “Things-That-Everyone-Would-Be-Glad-To-Know-Yet-Oddly-Aren’t-Common-Knowledge”: It turns out that not only do they make you cough, cigarettes also deposit a radioactive isotope in your airways.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commision lists cigarettes as a man-made source of radiation. They contain the radioactive isotope Polonium-210, which is in the calcium phosphate fertilizers used on tobacco crops and many food crops as well.

Here is an adorable diagram of radon from fertilized soil decaying and sticking to a lovingly rendered tobacco plant.

Anyway, the most conservative estimate is that a pack-and-a-half a day smoker receives the equivalent of 300 chest x-rays per year, or 0.01 chest x-rays per cigarette. The least conservative estimate is 20,000 chest x-rays, or about 2 x-rays per smoke.

Here’s a fun article that makes the rounds of the Cannabis liberation websites, full of primary source references to some of the relevant research.

Aren’t you glad to know that? Oddly, it’s not common knowledge!