Read other letters about this article
Contrary to what "experts" are saying, it would be very, very easy to extract the Po210 from anti-static brushes. It is basically sandwiched between two layers of gold. This makes it very safe, because there is practically no way it could be released accidentally, and gold is very resistant to corrosion and will not dissolve in most chemicals. However a simple acid mixture called aqua regia, know since the time of alchemy, will dissolve gold as well as the polonium contained therein. There would definitely be enough contained in several of the brushes to get the job done, just one contains 500 microcuries of Po210, which is 16666 times the maximum acceptable body burden. One would simply have to dissolve the gold elements in a small amount of acid and mix it in someone's drink. Aqua Regia is some nasty stuff, but the amount would be small enough (a couple of drops or so) not to be tasted or cause any immediate ill effects. Since the polonium would be a water soluble salt at this point, it would be absorbed readily into the body, where it would hang around for quite a while. It would be almost childishly simple to do.