Forensic Toxicology Poison PDF

Chapter 8 Toxicology: Poisons and Alcohol “All substances are poisons. There is none which is not. The right dose differentiates a poison and remedy.” —Paracelsus (1495-1541). Swiss physician and chemist  Toxic...

Chapter 8 Toxicology: Poisons and Alcohol “All substances are poisons. There is none which is not. The right dose differentiates a poison and remedy.” —Paracelsus (1495-1541). Swiss physician and chemist  Toxicology and Alcohol Students will learn:  A quantitative approach to toxicology.  The danger of using alcohol. 1 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Toxicology Definition—the study of the adverse effects of chemicals or physical agents on living organisms. Types: Environmental—air, water, soil Consumer—foods, cosmetics, drugs Medical, clinical, forensic 2 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Forensic Toxicology  Postmortem—medical examiner or coroner  Criminal—motor vehicle accidents (MVA)  Workplace—drug testing  Sports—human and animal  Environment—industrial, catastrophic, terrorism 3 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Toxicology Toxic substances may:  Be a cause of death  Contribute to death  Cause impairment  Explain behavior 4 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Historical Perspective of Poisoners  Olympias—a famous Greek poisoner  Locusta—personal poisoner of Emperor Nero  Lucretia Borgia—father was Pope Alexander VI  Madame Giulia Toffana—committed over 600 successful poisonings, including two Popes.  Hieronyma Spara—formed a society to teach women how to murder their husbands  Madame de Brinvilliers and Catherine Deshayes— French poisoners. AND many others through modern times. 5 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  The Severity of the Problem “If all those buried in our cemeteries who were poisoned could raise their hands, we would probably be shocked by the numbers.” —John Harris Trestrail, “Criminal Poisoning” 6 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company People of Historical Significance Mathieu Orfila—known as the father of forensic toxicology, published in 1814 “Traite des Poisons” which described the first systematic approach to the study of the chemistry and physiological nature of poisons. 7 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Aspects of Toxicity  Dosage  The chemical or physical form of the substance  The mode of entry into the body  Body weight and physiological conditions of the victim, including age and sex  The time period of exposure  The presence of other chemicals in the body or in the dose 8 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Lethal Dose  LD50—refers to the dose of a substance that kills half the test population, usually within four hours  Expressed in milligrams of substance per kilogram of body weight 9 Chapter 8 Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company  Toxicity Classes LD50 (rat,oral) Correlation to Ingestion Toxicity by 150 lb Adult Human