Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?

by Cullen, William R.

• ISBN13: 9780854043637
• ISBN10: 0854043632
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-01
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry

Summary

Sex, drugs, rocks, gold, murder, war, mass poisonings, the deaths of Napoleon, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and others are all linked by one element - arsenic! Arsenic has been around since the beginning of time and the word has become a metaphor for poison with associated shock value. The general public are fearful of any possible exposure to it and yet it holds a certain dark and eerie fascination!

Table of Contents

Medicinal Arsenic: Toxic Arsenic
The Element	p. 1
Mineral Medicine	p. 2
Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, aka Paracelsus	p. 6
Arsenic Eaters of Styria	p. 7
Fowler's Solution	p. 13
Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL)	p. 20
The Organoarsenicals	p. 22
Robert Bunsen	p. 22
Paul Ehrlich	p. 24
The Golden Age of Organoarsenicals	p. 28
African Sleeping Sickness	p. 31
The Darker Side: Toxicity	p. 33
Arsenicosis and Cancer	p. 35
Biomarkers	p. 38
Urine	p. 38
Hair	p. 39
Finger and Toe Nails	p. 40
Saliva	p. 40
Animal Models	p. 41
Chelate Compounds and Chelating Agents	p. 41
Chelation Therapy	p. 43
Some Historical Connections	p. 43
Charles Darwin	p. 43
Karin Blixen aka Isak Dinesen	p. 46
Alexander Borodin, Professional Organic Chemist and Amateur Composer	p. 46
References	p. 47
Arsenic Where You Least Expect It
Animal Feed Additives	p. 58
Heartworm	p. 60
Pesticides and Herbicides	p. 61
Lead and Calcium Arsenates	p. 61
Arsenic Trioxide	p. 63
The Black Death	p. 63
Wood Preservation	p. 67
Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA)	p. 67
Disposal of Treated Wood	p. 72
Alternatives to CCA	p. 74
Monomethylarsonic Acid and Dimethylarsinic Acid	p. 75
Use in the USA	p. 75
Canada	p. 76
OBPA	p. 78
Arsenic in Other Products and Processes	p. 78
Ironite	p. 78
Gallium Arsenide	p. 79
Glass Making	p. 80
Embalming	p. 81
Taxidermy	p. 85
Pigments	p. 87
Some Historical Connections	p. 88
Clare Boothe Luce	p. 88
The Peale Family	p. 89
King George III	p. 90
References	p. 92
Arsine, Scheele's Green, Gosio Gas, and Beer
Arsine	p. 99
Scheele's Green	p. 103
Arsenical Wallpaper	p. 105
Coal Tar Dyes and the Decline of Arsenical Colours	p. 106
Medical Problems	p. 107
Wallpaper Dust or Gas?	p. 109
Gosio Gas	p. 110
The Regulation of Arsenic, the "Verdant Assassin"	p. 112
Other Assassins	p. 113
Frederick Challenger	p. 115
The Toxicity of Gosio Gas	p. 118
Sick-Building Syndrome?	p. 120
The Manchester Beer Incident	p. 120
An Historical Connection. William Morris	p. 124
References	p. 127
Arsenophobia: A Connection between the Deaths of Infants and Napoleon I
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome	p. 130
The Toxic-Gas Hypothesis	p. 131
The Reaction	p. 133
The Turner Commission	p. 134
The Back-to-Sleep Campaign	p. 135
The Limerick Report	p. 137
Antimony Biomethylation	p. 138
Report Summary	p. 139
Dr. T. J. Sprott	p. 140
Sheep Skins	p. 141
Other Proponents of the Toxic-Gas Hypothesis	p. 143
Toxicity and Related Considerations	p. 144
The Death of Napoleon I of France	p. 145
Was it the Arsenic in the Wallpaper?	p. 145
The Autopsy	p. 146
Arsenic Poisoning?	p. 147
The "Real" Cause of Napoleon's Death	p. 151
Who Did It?	p. 152
Some Analytical and Chemical Problems	p. 152
The Preservation of the Corpse	p. 152
The Lethal Phase	p. 153
The Hair Analysis	p. 153
The Overall Picture	p. 155
Sources of Arsenic	p. 157
Wine and Water	p. 157
Self-medication	p. 158
Arsenical Smoke and Preservatives	p. 158
Arsenical Straws	p. 160
Medical Evidence	p. 160
References	p. 161
Arsenic and Crime: The Law of Intended Consequences
Introduction	p. 166
Ancient Times	p. 167
European Excess: The Age of Arsenic	p. 167
Italy of the Borgias and the Medicis	p. 168
France: The Poisons Affair	p. 170
Forensic Science	p. 171
Mary Blandy	p. 172
James Marsh	p. 173
Marie Lafarge	p. 174
The Arsenic Act of 1851	p. 176
Madeleine Smith	p. 178
Thomas Smethurst	p. 181
Florence Maybrick	p. 183
Herbert Armstrong	p. 185
Marie Besnard	p. 187
Public Perceptions	p. 188
Arsenic and Old Lace	p. 189
Crime Fiction	p. 190
Portrait of a Poisoner	p. 191
Some Serial Killers	p. 192
Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's First Serial Killer	p. 192
The Black Widows of Liverpool	p. 193
Vera Renczi	p. 194
Madame Popova	p. 194
Johann Hoch	p. 195
The Arsenic Gang	p. 195
The Grandmothers of Nagyrev	p. 195
Dr. Michael Swango	p. 196
Donald Harvey	p. 197
Delivery Systems	p. 197
Food and Drink	p. 197
The Poisoned Shirt	p. 198
Application via a Prophylactic	p. 198
The Poisoned Maiden	p. 198
The Poisoned Ring	p. 199
The Poisoned Candle	p. 199
Public Arsenic Attacks	p. 199
Japanese Curry	p. 199
Campus Coffee	p. 200
Church Picnic	p. 201
Two Ongoing Cases	p. 202
A Political Poisoning	p. 202
Cynthia Sommer	p. 203
Bezoars, Unicorns and Food Tasters	p. 205
Some Historical Connections	p. 207
Zachary Taylor	p. 207
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	p. 208
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	p. 209
References	p. 210
Arsenic at War: Mass Murder
Introduction	p. 215
The First Chemical Weapons Conventions	p. 217
World War I: The Gas War	p. 217
Mustard Gas	p. 221
Blue Cross	p. 223
Arsenical Agents: The Second Generation	p. 224
Tactics of Chemical Warfare	p. 225
The US Enters the Fray	p. 226
Lewisite	p. 227
Phenarsazine Chloride	p. 228
Arsenical Chemical-Warfare Agents	p. 232
Casualties of the Chemical War	p. 233
The Combatants	p. 233
Civilian Casualties	p. 234
The Aftermath	p. 234
The Humane War?	p. 234
Public Reaction	p. 235
Living with Chemical Weapons	p. 239
The Geneva Convention	p. 239
The German Reaction	p. 240
Spain in Morocco	p. 240
Italy in Ethiopia (Abyssinia)	p. 241
Japan in China	p. 242
WWII - The Gas War That Never Happened	p. 244
The Buildup in Europe	p. 244
Russia	p. 245
The United States	p. 245
Canada	p. 246
The European Experience	p. 250
The War in the Pacific	p. 251
Human Guinea Pigs	p. 252
The Allies	p. 252
Japan and Germany	p. 254
The Nuremberg Code of 1947 and its Aftermath	p. 254
The Vietnam War	p. 257
Agent Blue	p. 257
Adamsite and Other Tear Gases	p. 259
Health Effects	p. 259
The Public Reaction	p. 260
The Chemical Weapons Convention	p. 261
The Cleanup	p. 263
The Early Years	p. 263
Post-WWII	p. 264
Japan	p. 266
Domestic Ocean Dumping	p. 266
Disposal of Stockpiles	p. 267
Russia	p. 267
United States	p. 268
Some Special Problems	p. 270
Munster, Germany	p. 270
Spring Valley, US	p. 271
Bowes Moor, UK	p. 272
China	p. 272
Albania	p. 273
Other Recent Deployments of Chemical Weapons	p. 274
Conclusions	p. 275
References	p. 277
Arsenic and the Environment
Introduction	p. 287
Arsenic in the Atmosphere	p. 288
Arsenic in the Pedosphere	p. 288
Arsenic in the Hydrosphere	p. 288
Arsenic in the Biosphere	p. 289
Arsenic in Seafood	p. 289
Analysis of Arsenic Species (Speciation) in Living Organisms	p. 290
Distribution of Arsenic Species in the Living Environment	p. 294
Where do Arsenosugars and Arsenobetaine Come From?	p. 296
Arsenic Accumulators and Hyperaccumulators	p. 299
Arsenic in Our Food and Water	p. 300
Essentiality	p. 301
Arsenic Market Baskets	p. 302
The Effect of Cooking	p. 304
More on Rice	p. 304
Hijiki and Other Algal Products	p. 305
Bottled Water	p. 308
Metabolites	p. 310
Bioavailability and Bioaccessibility	p. 310
Sequential Selective Extraction (SSE)	p. 312
Gastrointestinal Models	p. 312
Arsenic in the Anthrosphere	p. 313
Gold Prospecting	p. 314
Arsenic Trioxide and the Giant Mine, Yellowknife NT, Canada	p. 315
Giant Mine: An Underground Cleanup?	p. 317
Giant Mine: Surface Cleanup	p. 318
American Smelting and Refining Company. Asarco	p. 319
The Everett and Tacoma Smelters	p. 319
The Globe Smelter: Some Unexpected Relief	p. 321
A Transboundary Dispute: Teck Cominco vs. US EPA	p. 321
More Woes	p. 322
Some Other Surfaces Affected by Mining	p. 322
Nickel Arsenide	p. 323
Arsenic in Energy Sources	p. 324
Coal	p. 324
Arsenical Peppers	p. 326
The Oil Sands of Alberta	p. 327
The Sydney Tar Ponds: Arsenic as an Environmental Hammer	p. 328
Cleaning Up	p. 329
Monitored Natural Attenuation	p. 331
Microbes and Arsenic	p. 332
More - but very Small - Arsenic Eaters	p. 333
References	p. 339
Accidental Exposure to Arsenic: The Law of Unintended Consequences
Introduction	p. 349
West Bengal and Bangladesh: The Devil's Water	p. 350
The Green Revolution	p. 350
Bangladesh	p. 351
The Affected	p. 354
Where does the Bangladesh Arsenic Come From?	p. 355
Professor Dipankar Chakraborti	p. 358
Field Testing Kits	p. 360
Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh	p. 362
Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 2002	p. 362
Arsenic-Mitigation Technologies	p. 364
Verification of Mitigation Technologies	p. 365
The Grainger Challenge Prize	p. 367
Nanoparticles	p. 369
Other Arsenic-Mitigation Methods	p. 369
Where Are We Now?	p. 370
Treatment Options for the Afflicted	p. 370
Arsenic Mitigation	p. 371
Taiwan	p. 373
Southwestern Taiwan	p. 373
Northern Taiwan	p. 373
Vietnam and Elsewhere in the East	p. 374
Vietnam	p. 374
Nepal	p. 374
China and Japan	p. 374
South America	p. 375
Argentina	p. 375
Chile	p. 375
Africa	p. 376
Europe	p. 378
North America	p. 379
Mexico	p. 379
The US Standard for Drinking Water	p. 379
Setting the US MCL	p. 381
Cost/Benefit Analysis	p. 383
The MCL Revisited	p. 385
Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada	p. 385
Other Small Systems	p. 387
The Canadian Maximum Acceptable Concentration (MAC)	p. 387
The Opportunists Knock	p. 387
Epilogue	p. 388
References	p. 389
Subject Index	p. 398
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