1st December 2006
EHOs are working closely with the Health Protection Agency to decontaminate central London locations visited by the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died last week from radioactive poisoning.
Westminster Council said EHOs were managing the safe removal of material from sites identified by the police. A spokesperson added that public safety was the council’s ‘number one prority’. Each site will be assessed, checked and verified by the HPA, police and the council.
Mr Litvinenko died from a radioactive poisoning linked to a significant quantity of polonium 210 in his body.
Traces of polonium have been detected in five locations across London, including the restaurant and hotel he visited on the day he fell ill, and his north London home.
Home secretary John Reid said NHS Direct has so far received 500 calls about the incident and a small number had been followed up. Eight people are undergoing radiological tests after coming into contact with polonium.
The HPA stressed the tests were ‘precautionary’ and insisted polonium posed only a minor risk to public health. ‘We want to reassure the public that the risk of having been exposed to this ‘It can only represent a radiation hazard if it is taken into the body – by breathing it in, by taking it into the mouth, or if it gets into a wound,’ said the HPA.
This week police extended their search for radioactive material to two more London addresses.