Polonium initiator was classified until the 1960s. The Atomic Energy Commission and the Manhattan Project funded human experiments using polonium on five people at the University of Rochester between 1943 and 1947. The people were administered between of polonium to study its excretion. Polonium is a very rare element in nature because of the short half-life of all its isotopes. Po, Po, and Po appear in the decay chain of U; thus polonium can be found in uranium ores at about 0.1 mg per metric ton (1 part in 10), which is approximately 0.2% of the abundance of radium. The amounts
Polonium easily if polonium is ingested, inhaled, or absorbed, although they do not penetrate the epidermis and hence are not hazardous as long as the alpha particles remain outside the body. Wearing chemically resistant and intact gloves is a mandatory precaution to avoid transcutaneous diffusion of polonium directly through the skin. Polonium delivered in concentrated nitric acid can easily diffuse through inadequate gloves (e.g., latex gloves) or the acid may damage the gloves. It has been reported that some microbes can methylate polonium by the action of methylcobalamin. This is similar to the way in which mercury, selenium, and tellurium are