Arsenic

 The primary objective of this blog, Pari Talks blogspot.com, is to draw out a smile from serious minded science lovers. Above all, no foul language is used.

L'objectif principal de ce blog Pari Talks blodpsot.com est de tirer un sourire des amateus de science serie'ux, acun langage grossier n'est utilise'.

Arsenic.

P.K.Ghatak, MD

No. 5

Agatha Christi used arsenic 14  times in her crime stories. Arsenic is an often-used poison to murder opponents in many other countries besides the U.K., and not only in stories but also in practice. Here are some infamous stories of murder by arsenic poisoning.

King Mithridates VI, who ruled a land, now known as Turkey, from 120 to 60 BCE, was the first recorded history of an arsenic poison victim.

A 4th-century Roman emperor, Nero,  murdered his stepbrother with arsenic to eliminate a serious rival to the Roman throne.

The second-to-last emperor of the Qing dynasty ate a bowl of yogurt, and a few hours later, he was dead. Years later, in 2008, an autopsy detected a very high concentration of arsenic in his hair.

The story of Grigori Rasputin is the most fascinating aspect of the history of arsenic poisoning. From a poor Russian peasant, Rasputin became an influential figure in the court of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II by his mystic power to stop the hemorrhage of Aleksey, the hemophilic son of Nicholas. His close association with Zarina Alexandra made him a target of assassination. But attempts to kill him by arsenic failed, because Rasputin said to take a small amount of arsenic regularly to build his resistance to arsenic in anticipation of assassination attempts.

A cocktail, Arsenic and Old Lace, also known as Atty, was made famous by a Broadway play in 1941. Old Lace became synonymous with murder by offering a cocktail laced with a fatal dose of arsenic. Before the use of arsenic became restricted by law for domestic use, arsenic was freely used by farmers for controlling mice, rats, and other vermin, and also as a weedkiller. Nowadays, pharmacists and laboratory workers have access to arsenic compounds of sufficient concentration that a small amount can kill an adult. It is a desired agent for murder because the victim can not detect it by color, taste, or smell.

Some drug manufacturing companies are ready to add a small amount of arsenic to antibiotics to combat multi-resistant bacterial infections. One such antibiotic is Arsinothricin (2 amino-4-hydroxymethylarsinoyl). Is there any volunteer to try this antibiotic ! Do you know that during the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, some crazy one suggested treating COVID with Arsenic.

If some are heavy consumers of shrimps and rice and drink untested well and spring water, they may be getting a higher dose of arsenic than others.

In the bygone days, proving the presence of a chemical in human tissue used to be a very trying effort and often unsuccessful. Modern Forensic laboratories are equipped with Gas Chromatography, which can detect even a tiny amount of Arsenic in the body fluids and tissues if present

So, all evil perpetrators, be careful, there are no more safe houses from the Law.

https://ghataksays.blogspot.com/

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