More information about the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko is coming out as the doctors analyse the samples more, and what’s being found out is frankly scary:
Tests have revealed that the chemical used to poison Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was pure TCDD, the most harmful known dioxin.
TCDD is a key ingredient in Agent Orange – a herbicide used by US troops in the Vietnam war and blamed for serious health problems.
[…]
Blood samples taken in Vienna, where Mr Yushchenko was treated, were sent to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, for further analysis.“It is a single chemical, not a mix,” Prof Abraham Brouwer of the Free University in Amsterdam told the Associated Press.
“This tells us… there is no way it occurred naturally because it is so pure.”
He said there were some small signs which could reveal where it was made.
Initial tests had shown the level of poison in Mr Yushchenko’s blood was more than 6,000 times higher than normal – the second highest level ever recorded in humans.
Dioxin is a carcinogen (sp.?), which means that Mr. Yushchenko can expect cancerous growths popping up here and there. His health should be constantly monitored for the rest of his life, whether or not he is elected president of Ukraine.
A nasty thing to pull on a bloke, if I may say so.
Makes the comment about Western interference even less tasteful…
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Just to be pedantic about chemistry, TCDD was not a “major ingredient” of Agent Orange, it was a contaminant introduced during the manufacturing process. Dioxins owe their deadly reputation largely to testing on guinea pigs, to which they are spectacularly toxic. Dioxins are produced whenever plant material, particularly wood, is burned. Since humans have been cooking using wood fires for over a million years, we have built up a considerable resistance to dioxins.
So, is there any concrete evidence (yet) that Putin is responsible?
“Since humans have been cooking using wood fires for over a million years, we have built up a considerable resistance to dioxins.” This is incorrect – dioxins are not produced by burning wood.