When I moved to North Carolina 7 years ago I didn’t think much about one of the bedrocks of the North Carolina economy: Tobacco. It’s a business dying a slow death, and one only has to look at the closed-up buildings that once housed powerful tobacco conglomerates, such as Liggett and Myers, in downtown Durham. … Continue reading
I’ve written about the dangers of nicotine before, and particularly about my theory of nicotine playing the part of poison in the death of Game of Throne’s King Joffrey. And lately e-cigarettes, or vaporizers, have become all the rage among consumers and media alike. So of course I’ve given my two-cents about potential e-cig and … Continue reading
In the toxicology world, and especially when poisons are involved, Spanish born Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila is the man. He is essentially the Godfather of toxicology, and its medicolegal component, and started us on the path towards detecting poisons in biological specimens. And in the early 1800’s he wrote several important books on identifying and treating … Continue reading
That smoking tobacco products is unhealthy comes as no surprise to any individual with a pulse. It is impossible for me to imagine someone thinking that inhaling smoke into their lungs could be anything less than harmful. Firefighters wear sixty pounds of respiration gear for the sole purpose of not inhaling smoke. But I digress. … Continue reading
Nature's Poisons 