> Tobacco farmers use fertilizer to help their crops grow. These fertilizers contain a naturally-occurring radionuclide, radium. Radium radioactively decays to release radon gas, which then rises from the soil around the plants. As the plant grows, the radon from fertilizer, along with naturally-occurring radon in surrounding soil and rocks, cling to the sticky hairs on the bottom of tobacco leaves, called trichomes. Radon later decays into the radioactive elements lead-210 and polonium-210. Rain does not wash them away. Polonium-210 is an alpha emitter and carries the most risk.
Isn't this true of every plant we cultivate and put into our bodies? Or is there something particular about tobacco trichromes and Radon? Or tobacco-specific fertilizers? Inhalation vs. ingestion? This is all coming on the heels of learning yesterday that everyone has like 20-60 lbs of lead in their back yard: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23039020
Tobacco leaves have sticky hairs on their underside, which is what makes them different from other crops: it’s these hairs that absorb the radon and prevent it from being washed away with water. Also, the type of fertilizer used for Tobacco might be different than fertilizers used for other crops.
No, many plants have these AFAIK. Tomato leaves are pretty sticky. Potatoes too IIRC. Happens that both of these are in the same family as tobacco though.
I just realised your point that tobacco is a leaf crop unlike spuds and toms, so ok, point taken.
Tobacco is a lot more sticky than most other crops, to the point that it has been hypothesised to be a semi-carnivorous plant. Insects actually get caught in them, it's just unknown of the plant actually actively digests them. That's also why harvesting tobacco is not very pleasant, with all the stuff stuck on their leaves.
Bean leaves also have sharp protrusions, I understand. Probably for defense against insects more than carnivory. Freshly picked bean leaves placed on the floor are supposed to be a defense against bedbugs.
Reminds me. My ex-wifes grandmother said when she was a little girl her family packed up from tobacco country to California. And her utter joy when her mother told her that no they don't grow tobacco in California.
As a kid growing up in Scotland I worked picking daffodils in spring and berries in the summer - absolutely back-breaking work, but at least you got to eat your body weight in berries for free!
We were paid a pittance based on how much we picked. It wasn't only kids, and was never thought of as "child labour" at the time - I wonder if this is still a thing in the UK?
> is there something particular about tobacco trichomes?
Absolutely nothing
Well... Either this people are genius that discovered a way to suck and harvest expensive argon and helium from the air, with the help of super-sticking tomato that traps them magically in a everest size (from the point of view of a radon atom) trichome.
... or maybe the history is false and noble gases still keep their reputation of not interacting with anything and being difficult to trap.
I would put my money in the second possibility. It looks exactly like the kind of convoluted history that tobacco makers would create to avoid paying compensations to the families of people affected by cancer ("Tobacco is safe, healthy for children and medicinal, manure makers dose our nice flowers with radiation and are the real responsible, so should share the bills").
Isn't this true of every plant we cultivate and put into our bodies? Or is there something particular about tobacco trichromes and Radon? Or tobacco-specific fertilizers? Inhalation vs. ingestion? This is all coming on the heels of learning yesterday that everyone has like 20-60 lbs of lead in their back yard: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23039020