“The king of poisons,” “the poison of kings,” “inheritance powder.” As its various nicknames suggest, arsenic’s notoriety largely stems from its use as a murder weapon. But as we explore in this episode, the world of arsenic is much, much bigger than just as a plot device in an Agatha Christie novel, and it remains one of the most important environmental contaminants today. But how exactly does arsenic affect your body? When did people first start to use arsenic and for what purposes? Where does it have the most impact currently? And, of course, why was it so popular as a murder weapon? Tune in to hear the answers to these and many, many more questions about one of the most notorious poisons out there.
| History | Biology |
| Harkup, Kathryn. A is for arsenic: The poisons of Agatha Christie. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. | Hughes, M.F., 2002. Arsenic toxicity and potential mechanisms of action. Toxicology letters, 133(1), pp.1-16. |
| Parascandola, John. King of poisons: a history of arsenic. Potomac Books, Inc., 2012. | Singh, A.P., Goel, R.K. and Kaur, T., 2011. Mechanisms pertaining to arsenic toxicity. Toxicology international, 18(2), p.87. |
| Whorton, James C. The arsenic century: how Victorian Britain was poisoned at home, work, and play. OUP Oxford, 2010. | Shi, H., Shi, X. and Liu, K.J., 2004. Oxidative mechanism of arsenic toxicity and carcinogenesis. Molecular and cellular biochemistry, 255(1), pp.67-78. |
| Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. 1856 | Byeon, E., Kang, H.M., Yoon, C. and Lee, J.S., 2021. Toxicity mechanisms of arsenic compounds in aquatic organisms. Aquatic Toxicology, 237, p.105901. |
| Jackson, Shirley. We have always lived in the castle. Viking Press, 1962. | Kuivenhoven M, Mason K. Arsenic Toxicity. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing, Treasure Island (FL); 2021. PMID: 31082169. |
| Apata, Mario, and Susanne P. Pfeifer. “Recent population genomic insights into the genetic basis of arsenic tolerance in humans: the difficulties of identifying positively selected loci in strongly bottlenecked populations.” Heredity 124.2 (2020): 253-262. | WHO Arsenic Factsheet 2018. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/arsenic |
| Arriaza, Bernardo, et al. “Exploring chronic arsenic poisoning in pre-Columbian Chilean mummies.” Journal of Archaeological Science 37.6 (2010): 1274-1278. | World Health Organization, 2019. Preventing disease through healthy environments: exposure to arsenic: a major public health concern (No. WHO/CED/PHE/EPE/19.4. 1). World Health Organization. |
| Doyle, Derek. “Notoriety to respectability: a short history of arsenic prior to its present day use in haematology.” British journal of haematology 145.3 (2009): 309-317. | da Cunha Martins Jr, A., Carneiro, M.F.H., Grotto, D., Adeyemi, J.A. and Barbosa Jr, F., 2018. Arsenic, cadmium, and mercury-induced hypertension: mechanisms and epidemiological findings. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 21(2), pp.61-82. |
| Haslam, Jessica Charlotte. “Deadly décor: a short history of arsenic poisoning in the nineteenth century.” Res Medica 21.1 (2013): 76-81. | Tsuji, J.S., Lennox, K.P., Watson, H.N. and Chang, E.T., 2021. Essential concepts for interpreting the dose-response of low-level arsenic exposure in epidemiological studies. Toxicology, 457, p.152801. |
| Hughes, Michael F., et al. “Arsenic exposure and toxicology: a historical perspective.” Toxicological sciences 123.2 (2011): 305-332. | Tchounwou, P.B., Yedjou, C.G., Udensi, U.K., Pacurari, M., Stevens, J.J., Patlolla, A.K., Noubissi, F. and Kumar, S., 2019. State of the science review of the health effects of inorganic arsenic: perspectives for future research. Environmental toxicology, 34(2), pp.188-202. |
| Hunter, Philip. “A toxic brew we cannot live without: micronutrients give insights into the interplay between geochemistry and evolutionary biology.” EMBO reports 9.1 (2008): 15-18. | Chou, C.H. and Harper, C., 2007. Toxicological profile for arsenic. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry |
| Nriagu, Jerome O. “Arsenic poisoning through the ages.” Environmental chemistry of arsenic 1 (2002): 1-26. | |
| Sambu, Sammy, and Richard Wilson. “Arsenic in food and water–a brief history.” Toxicology and Industrial Health 24.4 (2008): 217-226. | |
| Schlebusch, Carina M., et al. “Human adaptation to arsenic-rich environments.” Molecular biology and evolution 32.6 (2015): 1544-1555. | |
| Sen, Parijat, and Tamoghna Biswas. “Arsenic: the largest mass poisoning of a population in history.” Bmj 346 (2013). | |
| Waxman, Samuel, and Kenneth C. Anderson. “History of the development of arsenic derivatives in cancer therapy.” The oncologist 6.S2 (2001): 3-10. |
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