Comments on: What is Thallium

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Tue, 22 May 2007 09:49:08 +0000

Today - May 22, 2007, BBC is reporting that a Russian is to be charged with Alexander Litvinenko's murder.

By: sciencebase

sciencebase — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:28:50 +0000

The Guardian today reports that the British intelligence services now suspect that former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, was murdered by “rogue elements” within the Russian state.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1961546,00.html

They have ruled out any “official involvement” of Putin’s government, but their investigations nevertheless point to someone with access to state nuclear laboratories as being the only possible perpetrator.

By: sciencebase

sciencebase — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 14:33:37 +0000

The Guardian today reports that the medical team treating him still do not know what has led to his present condition, but they have now ruled out thallium poisoning and believe radiation poisoning is unlikely.

Moreover, the paper points out that BBC speculation that the three “objects” are something to do with the alleged poisoning is misguided. Most likely is that the shadowing seen in the X-ray pictures is due to the presence of the chelation agent Prussian blue administered as an antidote to thallium poisoning.

By: Michael Anes

Michael Anes — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 13:25:50 +0000

I believe one of the ways the CIA was thinking of debilitating (or killing) Castro was with Thallium poisoning…strikes a chord somewhere…

By: sciencebase

sciencebase — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 10:45:13 +0000

The toxicology report is still pending lab tests, but a new development in the case of Litvinenko’s condition has emerged. University College Hospital has announced that they have found three objects of dense matter in his intestines. They could only have got there through ingestion, but the Hospital has not confirmed the size of these objects nor said whether or not they are related to the alleged poisoning. Unfortunately, for Litvinenko, whatever these objects turn out to be, his condition has deteriorated and he is suspected to have suffered a cardiac arrest, reports the BBC.

By: sciencebase

sciencebase — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:33:05 +0000

It now emerges that Litvinenko may also have been exposed to a radioactive material, although it is possible the two were one in the same, i.e. a radioactive isotope of thallium.

(An isotopes of a chemical element has the same atomic number and so is chemically almost identical, but it has a different number of neutrons in its nucleus. This difference in neutron to proton ratio in the nucleus can make some isotopes of elements more or less stable or radioactive.)

By: sciencebase

sciencebase — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:10:21 +0000

Claims that the former KGB colonel was poisoned by the Russians have been dismissed by the Kremlin as “sheer nonsense”. Litvinenko is known to have been investigating the death of Politkovskaya.