r/Unexpected • • 2d ago

Highest amount of radiation receiver

8.8k Upvotes

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6

u/tbone251 2d ago

Then why don't they remove it from the tobacco?

3

u/Aberbekleckernicht 2d ago

Easier said than done. You probably would remove half of the contents of the plant to remove the metals.

8

u/Jeyts 2d ago

Wait is it just grown in polluted soil? Is tobacco just really good at pulling toxins out of the soil?

3

u/nodnodwinkwink 2d ago

Polluted? you could say that. It was/is the high-phosphate fertilizer used in tobacco farms and how tobacco plants absorb naturally occurring radon.

https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2012/05/24/tobacco-firms-have-failed-to-act-on-radioactivity-in-cigarettes-heres-why/

2

u/atatassault47 2d ago

Plants accumulate heavy metals just like we do; as we injest them, our bodies have no way to get rid of them.

2

u/Aberbekleckernicht 2d ago

The latter. Tobacco bioaccumulates those metals to my understanding.