Swiss scientists verified traces of the radioactive substance polonium that were found on personal items belonging to the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, according to the Guardian.
The discovery of polonium-210 on Arafat's items was first announced publicly last year in relation to alleged claims that the late President was poisoned by Israel. Swiss, French and Russian scientists conducted tests on Arafat's body last November, but no conclusive results were ever officially announced.
In a paper submitted to the medical journal The Lancet, the Swiss toxicologists described their examination of 38 items belonging to Arafat in comparison to a control group of items belonging to the late President that had been in storage for a long period prior to his death in 2004.
Their research verified the existence of the radioactive material, with the scientists announcing that their results "support the possibility of Arafat’s poisoning with polonium-210. Although the absence of myelosuppression [bone marrow deficiency] and hair loss does not favour acute radiation syndrome, symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhoea, and anorexia, followed by hepatic and renal failures, might suggest radioactive poisoning.”
