Arsenic and cyanide has been much involved in terms of both the deliberate poisoning or not intentional. Examples of these substances are poisoning caused by cyanide gas leak, the presence of certain substances from industrial waste containing these two substances or deliberately given as a poison.
As quoted from Science.org.au, Thursday (04/15/2010) substances below known toxic and has the effect of different toxins, namely:
Cyanide
Cyanide is sometimes still used in mining to extract gold and silver. This is still a controversy on the safety of gold and silver mining, because of leakage of cyanide can affect human health and living things around it.
Cyanide is a potentially deadly poison, because this substance makes the body unable to use oxygen to sustain his body. This substance can be a gas such as hydrogen cyanide or in the form of crystals such as potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide.
Cyanide gas can be absorbed through inhalation (lungs), skin or ingestion (mouth to the stomach) and distributed throughout the body. If these substances enter the body can inhibit certain enzymes in the cell, interfering with the use of oxygen by cells and can cause cell death. At certain doses, these substances can cause death within 15 minutes due to lack of oxygen.
Cyanide poison is usually applied to the edge of the glass, bottle drink or injected into the ice cubes. Cyanide as hydrogen cyanide reacts only free, therefore ingested salts should meet with water or stomach acid before the release of hydro-cyanide acid, this process only takes a few seconds.
The use of cyanide poison to kill himself used the controversial Nazi leaders, Hitler was allegedly drinking cyanide capsule before firing head.
Arsenic
Other substances which are also popularly used for the crime is arsenic, which is the most common element of the 20 th in the earth's crust. Arsenic occurs in many forms, but this substance would be toxic if the ion especially if it reacts with sulfur content of certain enzymes.
A person exposed to this substance in doses that are not lethal, the future can cause chronic toxicity and carcinogenic (cancer causing substances). Thus arsenic is still a debate on the safety of workers in industries that are still using arsenic as insecticide or weed exterminator company as well as tin and copper ore extraction.
Symptoms of acute arsenic poisoning can occur in two forms. First cause severe paralysis that can occur within 1-2 hours and usually are often marked with signs of delirium or insanity. While the second in digestive disorders such as nausea, headache, severe pain, vomiting and diarrhea.
Substance arsenic can be lethal by disrupting the digestive system of the person causing death due to shock. Some of the figures who had arsenic poisoning is Napoleon Bonaparte and Munir.
If you are in a form element, then the arsenic is not dangerous. But if in the form of oxide of arsenic dioxide, it is poison in the form of white powder and soluble in water.
Arsenic is tasteless and difficult to detect. Food or drink that is mixed arsenic will not be tasteless. This compound used to be called 'inheritance powder' because it is used to kill people in order to get his inheritance and his death is usually considered normal.
This also happened to Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor was previously believed to die from stomach cancer. But after nearly a hundred years of the new note that he died from arsenic poisoning based on analysis of hair, which contains arsenic at a dose verge safe limits.
Tetrodoksin
This substance is usually found in the puffer fish (fish bloated) and can cause poisoning tetrodotoksin neurotoxins, this fish is widely available in Asia especially in Japan. Dose of 1-2 grams of pure tetrodoksin can be deadly and is expected to exceed the effect of cyanide.
These toxins will be concentrated in the liver, genital organs and animal skins. In addition, this substance will remain stable when exposed to high temperatures and soluble in water.
This substance and form small heterocyclic organic molecules can work directly on sodium channels are electrically active in neural tissue. Hence the toxicity of these substances is caused by nerve damage.
People who normally tetrodoksin poisoning after eating puffer fish or bloated fish in a certain amount. But sometimes the poison is found in powder form that is inserted into the blood stream or through open wounds. If given a lethal dose of tetrodoksi in the amount of more than 1 mg, can cause death.
Botulism
Botulism is the most dangerous infectious disease caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Toxins from these bacteria is known most powerful that prohibited its use as a biological weapon in warfare.
Infection with this toxin causes acute paralysis on both sides of the body's nerve (nerve karnial) and the nerves that perform automated control and awareness in the body.
Also known as the bacteria are anaerobic bacteria that can survive, reproduce themselves and produce the most deadly poisons and effective at very low oxygen levels. Toxins from these bacteria will attack the nervous system and make someone die with pain.
Botulism poisoning is usually due to food consumed or by injection into the body that can damage the nervous system and paralyze muscles by inhibiting the release of neurotransmitters from nerve acetycholine.