Arafat's death becomes a whodunit

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Yasser Arafat's mysterious 2004 death turned into a whodunit Thursday after Swiss scientists who examined his remains said the Palestinian leader was probably poisoned with radioactive polonium.

Yet hard proof remains elusive, and nine years on, tracking down anyone who might have slipped minuscule amounts of the lethal substance into Arafat's food or drink could be difficult.

A new investigation could also prove embarrassing - and not just for Israel, which the Palestinians have long accused of poisoning their leader and which has denied any role.

The Palestinians themselves could come under renewed scrutiny, since Arafat was holed up in his Israeli-besieged West Bank compound in the months before his death, surrounded by advisers, staff, and bodyguards.

Arafat died at a French military hospital on Nov. 11, 2004, at 75, a month after falling violently ill at his compound. At the time, French doctors said he died of a stroke and had a blood-clotting problem, but records were inconclusive about what caused that condition.

The Swiss scientists said that they found elevated traces of polonium-210 and lead in Arafat's remains that could not have occurred naturally, and that the timeframe of Arafat's illness and death was consistent with poisoning from ingesting polonium. "Our results reasonably support the poisoning theory," Francois Bochud, director of Switzerland's Institute of Radiation Physics, which carried out the investigation, said at a news conference.

Bochud and Patrice Mangin, director of the Lausanne University Hospital's forensics center, said they tested and ruled out innocent explanations, such as accidental poisoning.

Palestinian officials had no comment on the substance of the report but promised a continued investigation.

Here are some facts about polonium.

What Is Polonium?

Polonium-210 is one of the world's rarest elements, discovered in 1898 by scientists Marie and Pierre Curie and named in honor of her country of origin, Poland. It occurs naturally in very low concentrations in Earth's crust and also is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. In small amounts, it has legitimate industrial uses, mainly in devices to eliminate static electricity. Polonium is not naturally found in the human body.

How Dangerous Is It?

Very. If ingested, it is lethal in extremely small doses. A minuscule amount of the silver powder is sufficient to kill. British radiation experts say once polonium-210 enters the bloodstream, its deadly effects are nearly impossible to stop.

Where Does It Come From?

Polonium can be a byproduct of the chemical processing of uranium, but usually it's made artificially in a nuclear reactor or a particle accelerator. Dozens of countries - including Russia, Israel, and the U.S. - have the nuclear capability to produce polonium. Derek Hill, a radiation expert at University College London, said if there was enough polonium in the Yasser Arafat samples, it might be possible to trace where it came from, providing more clues about whether he was poisoned.

Is It Unusual to Find Polonium in People?

Yes. Alastair Hay, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said there is no natural amount of polonium you would expect to find in someone - unless they worked in atomic energy plants or dealt with radioactive isotopes. He said it was difficult to explain why Arafat's body had any traces of it.

How Can It Poison People?

People can be poisoned if they eat or drink food contaminated with polonium, breathe air contaminated with it, or get it in an open wound. KGB agent-turned-Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, assassinated in 2006, apparently drank tea laced with polonium at a meeting in London. - AP

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