Poison 101-Handout
Poison comes in four categories
• Animal – venom
• Vegetable – herbal, allergen
• Mineral – heavy metals, elements
• Synthetic – most drugs, pesticides
Methods of Ingestion
• Inhalation – breathing it in
• Topical – absorbing through skin or mucous membranes
• Consumption – eating or drinking
• Injection – injected through skin (shots, bites, stings)
Symptoms
• Every poison has a characteristic set of symptoms – check the MSDS
• Paralysis, inflammation = suffocation
• Binding to RBCs – no oxygen transport
• Kinds of toxicity
— General – kills cells w/out being consumed
— Mutagenic – causes mutation (usually cancer)
— Teratogenic – abortifacient or causes birth defects
Miscellaneous about Poison
• Classically considered a female weapon (no noisy bangs, no blood & guts, no up close and personal wrestling)
• All poison leaves some trace behind, but most are very specific; you have to know what to look for
Looking for Poison
• Methods of analysis differ based on substance being searched and substance being searched for:
— Solvent extraction – GC, GC/MS, HPLC
— Matrix digestion – AA, ICP, SpecID
• Matrix interference – surrounding tissue/fluid does not allow substance of interest to be clearly analyzed
• Immunity – continued exposure to minor amounts builds limited immunity to some poisons
• Accumulation – hair, liver, lipids
