Litvinenko Radiation Attack: A Warning for the U.S.

It's sometimes hard to tell if the British government's handling of a radiation poisoning case is inept or just poorly reported, but it certainly could be improved. The difficulty of the UK's response to a  radiological attack on an individual demonstrates, on a much smaller scale, the kind of challenge Americans would face if terrorists used radioactive substances to inflict mass casualties in the United States.

By the time British government authorities publicly identified polonium-210 as the likely cause of Alexander Litvinenko's death, thousands of people had been exposed to cross-contamination as they passed through each of the places visited by the former Russian spy, and possibly his assassin, before he fell ill on November 1. It is unclear if doctors failed to quickly diagnose the cause, or if officials intentionally withheld the diagnosis for investigative purposes.

So far, though, investigators report finding traces of radiation at a dozen locations, among them Litvinenko's home, the Park Lane Hotel, the Millenium Hotel, a sushi restaurant, offices of fellow Russian Boris Berezovsky, and two currently grounded aircraft. British authorities say that only low levels of contamination have been discovered and the threat to public health is "minimal." But, monitoring and sampling can only determine how much contamination remains. How much was there originally may never be known.

A good deal of the original contamination would have been  carried out on the shoes, clothing and personal belongings of those who passed through after Litvinenko.  The gravest threat to public health most likely occurred when cleaning crews swept and vacuumed the planes, offices and other sites, stirring up radioactive particles. While skin exposure to the radionuclides is not a problem (the alpha particles emitted by polonium-210 cannot penetrate skin), inhalation of the resuspended radionuclides could have serious health impacts. An estimated 33,000 British Airways passengers currently are being asked to seek medical advice. (Affected flights are listed here.)

The ever-expanding web of radioactive contamination is an eerie reminder of the 2001 anthrax attacks.  Like U.S. government officials in that incident, British authorities apparently have failed to give the public full and accurate information regarding radiation's health threat. An ABC News reporter writes:

A camera crew and I entered the now infamous sushi restaurant last Monday to ask permission to film. The manager refused but, unknown to us, we were walking in a contaminated environment.

A health service operator told me we would only have been at risk if we had visited there the day Litvinenko had eaten, Nov. 1, and, in particular, if we'd eaten anything. Reassured, we have not been sent for radiological tests ourselves.

Polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days and therefore would have retained most of its destructive energy weeks after Litvenko's poisoning occurred. Anyone who had ingested or breathed in polonium-210 around the time of Litvinenko's poisoning should have fallen sick by now with symptoms of radiation poisoning. But, if particles of polonium remained in the environment, on clothing or upholstery for example, inhalation or ingestion of the particles could occur at any time. Thus, it's possible that some symptoms could yet appear, although the odds are increasingly slim.

Government agencies should at all times be prepared to effectively minimize public health impacts of radiological threats. Too often, though, the public is advised not to worry, or to view the risk 'scientifically' by comparing it with other risks, even as government officials fail to provide information needed to avoid or minimize health impacts.

The UK incident is a warning to all countries that radioactive isotopes can and will be used for criminal or terrorist purposes. With every additional nation that develops nuclear technology, the risk increases. If an attack on one person can create so much secondary havoc, imagine what terrorists could accomplish by intentionally spreading contamination as widely as possible through food or other methods of distribution.

How prepared are U.S. government agencies for dealing with a radiological attack? Did they learn anything from the 2001 anthrax attack? After Hurricane Katrina, one is afraid to ask, but definitely Congress should.  And, everyone should be taking notes on the Litvinenko incident. There's a very good chance we'll encounter similar questions on a future test.