poisons in the body History of Forensic Toxicology Limited to matters that pertain to violations of criminal law Developed in the 19 th century 1814 Mathieu Orfila chemistry of poisons 1836 James Marsh detection of arsenic in body tissues and fluids
Toxicologist Detects and identifies the presence of drugs and/or poisons in body fluids, tissues and organs. Services required in: Crime Labs Medical Examiners Office Hospital Laboratories Divisions of Toxicology Postmortem drug testing Determine the manner of death Workplace drug testing Evaluation of blood/urine (random testing) Pre-employment drug testing Investigation of contraband materials Identify prohibited substances in an investigation Specimen Collection Blood Postmortem toxicology (most important) 50-100 mL collected Urine Easy to collect are large volume Pre-employment and postmortem Used to determine the presence, not concentration Gastric Contents Postmortem in sudden death cases (suicide) Specimen Collection Vitreous Humor Postmortem (fluid of the eye) Gives a reliable measure of drug presence Time/cause of death Bile and Liver Drug metabolism in the body occurs in the liver Hair Drugs are found in low concentrations
Elements of Toxicology Dosage how much Chemical/Physical Form of substance Solid, liquid, gas (or compound) How it enters the body Swallowed Injected Absorbed through the skin inhaled Elements of Toxicology Body weight, physiological conditions of the victim (age, sex, etc.) Time period of exposure Whether other chemicals are present in the body Toxicology Terms Toxin a substance that causes injury to the health of a living thing on contact or by absorption Chronic Exposure continued exposure to a toxin over a long period of time Acute Toxicity Poisoning occurring after exposure (hours, days) Measuring Toxicity LD 50 amount of a substance that kills half of the test population (within 4 hrs) mg of substance/kg of body weight Toxicity Classes and Definitions Correlation to ingestion by a 150- LD50 (rat, oral) pound adult human Toxicity <1 mg/kg a taste to a drop extremely 1-50 mg/kg to a teaspoon Highly 50-500 mg/kg to an ounce moderately 500-5,000 mg/kg to a pint slightly 5-15 g/kg to a quart practically nontoxic > 15 g/kg more than 1 quart relatively harmless Lethal Dose Values Material LD50 mg/kg, rats, oral Sucrose 29,700 Vitamin C 11,900 Ethanol 7,060 Sodium Chloride 3,000 Arsenic Metal 763 Caffeine 192 Nicotine 53 Arsenic Trioxide 14.6 Arsenic pentoxide 8 Sodium Cyanide 6 VX (nerve agent) 0.060 Ricin 0.020 Dioxin 0.020 Regulatory Agencies FDA Food and Drug Administration Pharmaceuticals, food additives, medical devices EPA Environmental Protection Agency Agricultural/Industrial Pollution Consumer Product Safety Commission Toxins in consumer products DOT Department of Transportation Shipment of Toxins OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration