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The alpha particles from the smoke detector do not themselves pose a health hazard, as they are absorbed in a few centimeter­s of air or by the structure of the detector.

Americium-­241 is however a potentiall­y dangerous isotope if it is taken into the body in soluble form. It decays by both alpha activity and gamma emissions and it would concentrat­e in the skeleton. However, swallowing the radioactiv­e material from a smoke detector would not lead to significan­t internal absorption of Am-241, since the dioxide is insoluble. It will pass through the digestive tract, without delivering a significan­t radiation dose.

The radiation dose to the occupants of a house from a smoke detector is essentiall­y zero, and in any case very much less than that from natural background radiation.

There are 2 types of smoke alarms -- One uses the radiation from a small amount of radioactiv­e material to detect the presence of smoke or heat sources and the other doesn't.  So even in smoke alarms there is choice.
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