Sources of Polonium 210 Po and Radio-Lead 210 Pb in Human Body in Poland

Alicja Boryło, Bogdan Skwarzec and Jarosław Wieczorek
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Alicja Boryło: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Radiochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
Bogdan Skwarzec: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Radiochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
Jarosław Wieczorek: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Radiochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-9

Abstract: This article contains and discusses the results of research on the source of polonium 210 Po and radio-lead 210 Pb in the human body of adults living in Poland. An adult inhabitant of Poland receives an effective annual radiation dose of 309 µSv from inhalation and absorption of 210 Po and 210 Pb. The main sources of both radionuclides in the body is cigarette and marijuana smoking. In terms of food, the consumption of fish, cereals, vegetables and fruit as well as mushrooms have the largest contribution to annual dose. This study highlights the importance of cigarette smoking and the growing importance of marijuana hash smoking as the main source of 210 Po and 210 Pb for adults living in Poland. The calculated dose that results from the decay of both radionuclides in body is 1/10 of the annual radiation dose received by a Polish inhabitant from natural sources (2.8 mSv) and is almost five times lower than the dose resulting from the inhalation of 222 Rn.

Keywords: radionuclides; polonium 210 Po and radio-lead 210 Pb; human body (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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