Can the radioactive substance have hazards other than the radioactivity—like being poisonous?
Yes, it can. If the substance is hazardous to health anyway, the radioactive piece is an additional hazard on top of the hazard that would exist if the substance wasn’t radioactive. An example is uranium. The heavy metal alone can make you sick. Add the fact that it is radioactive and it means you are also being exposed to the radiation it emits. So, if a substance by itself is cause for concern, making it radioactive adds to the concern because it can now potentially make you sick in more than one way.
