[tdy721]

Well, don’t eat the tomato leaves for one. If you compare the mass of undried tobacco leaves to a similar amount of food, I would guess similar exposures. I would also guess that the fruit contains more water, therefore a slightly less concentration of radiation.

It’s also about the system, lungs vs digestion. Digestion has been dealing with natural radiation for longer than we have been smoking.

Good question!

I also want to point out things like strawberries are irradiated on purpose to extend shelf life, not the same thing as radionuclides in the food, but a nice example of radiation protecting the food supply and preventing quick spoilage.

Edit: I think all fertilizers are the same, mostly from petrochemical stock. Nothing separating tobacco and food fertilizer.

[ccffpphh]

Most food is irradiated, yes. Prevents potatoes from sprouting, sterilizes tons of food, etc. I am very familiar with that, but didn't realize that radionuclides were ever-present in fertilizers.

I grow my own tea, and use fertilizer. Am I at risk for the same issues after processing the leaves? Additionally, would this then extend to cannabis as well? While they aren't leaves, I'm assuming that radium would end up there as well if in the fertilizer.

I guess what I'm trying to say is what is it specifically about tobacco - is it the mechanism of intake of the tobacco plant specifically, is it a property of all plants and fertilizer, or is it only a property of specific parts of all plants?

[Symbiote]

> Most food is irradiated, yes.

No, far from it. Extremely little food is irradiated.

"103,000 tonnes of food products were irradiated on mainland United States in 2010"

"6,876 tonnes of food products were irradiated in European Union countries in 2013"

The average American consumes a tonne of food per year, and the average European probably isn't much different. That's 0.03% of food in the USA, and less than 0.001% respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation

[52-6F-62]

To your last question--as a severely amateur player in this one: tomato and tobacco are both nightshades so I imagine the growth of the leafing parts are similar in action.

Hopefully someone else will either correct me or elaborate.