Whether a radioactive substance called polonium-210 was involved
in Yasser Arafat's death is under investigation. The body of the
former Palestine Liberation Organization leader was exhumed
Tuesday for this purpose and reburied. Arafat died in 2004. A
murder inquiry into his death was opened this year after high
levels of polonium-210 were found on Arafat's toothbrush,
clothing and keffiyeh, the black-and-white headscarf he often
wore. Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian investigation
committee, said forensic experts from France, Switzerland and
Russia took their own samples for independent analysis.
Polonium-210 is not a radioactive substance that emits gamma
particles, which can travel through walls at extremely high
energies. Instead, as polonium-210 decays, it releases alpha
particles, which can't even pass through a piece of paper. But
alpha particles are still dangerous. They travel short distances
and retain a high amount of energy. In nature, it takes about
138 days for half of a given quantity of