English: Arafat (with PNA cabinet members?) at a meeting in Copenhagen, 1999 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
From Salma Abdelaziz and Schams Elwazer
(CNN) — Scientific tests have found unusually high levels of the radioactive substance polonium-210 in some of the personal effects of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, one of the scientists involved in the study said Wednesday.
The results do not mean that Arafat suffered radiation poisoning, François Bochud told CNN.
Some details in Arafat’s medical records are not consistent with polonium poisoning, he explained.
“We have evidence there is too much polonium, but we also have hints from the medical records that this may not be the case. The only way to resolve this anomaly would be by testing the body,” said Bochud, director of Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland.
His research team tested Arafat’s toothbrush, clothing and keffiyeh, the trademark black-and-white scarf he always wore, Bochud said.
The Palestinian Authority has no objections to having Arafat’s body exhumed and tested by reliable scientific authorities if his family approves, spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.
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