C&D 1: History of Toxicology

Question 1

toxicokinetics

Answer 1

how the organism affects the chemical (ADME)

Question 2

toxicodynamics

Answer 2

how the chemical affects the organism

Question 3

Shennong

Answer 3

~2800 B.C. founder of Chinese herbal medicine

Question 4

Mithridates

Answer 4

~120 B.C. ruler in ancient Turkey trying to discover a universal antidote

Question 5

hemlock

Answer 5

affects CNS and produces asphyxiation; Socrates chose to be executed this way

Question 6

Hercules

Answer 6

ancient Greece; dipped arrows in venom

Question 7

Achilles

Answer 7

ancient Greece; in Homer’s Iliad, killed by poison arrow to the heel

Question 8

Dioscorides

Answer 8

~40 A.D.; ancient Rome; collected herbs and wrote about plant & animal toxins on his travels

Question 9

Galen

Answer 9

~129 A.D.; ancient Rome; physician of Marcus Aurelius; founder of theory of humors (blood, bile, phlegm)

Question 10

Paracelsus

Answer 10

~1500; Middle Ages; Switzerland; dose-response concept

Question 11

Ramazzini

Answer 11

1700’s; Italy; father of occupational medicine; recognized connection between occupation and illness

Question 12

Percival Pott

Answer 12

1700’s; England; recognized link between chimney sweeps and scrotal cancer, now known to be due to BaP

Question 13

James Marsh

Answer 13

1800s; England; father of analytical chemistry; developed method for detecting arsenic

Question 14

Orfila

Answer 14

1800s; Spain; father of forensic toxicology; used Marsh test to detect whether people had been exposed to arsenic

Question 15

Claude Bernard

Answer 15

1800s; France; studied mechanism of curare toxicity

Question 16

Roentgen

Answer 16

1895; discovered x-rays

Question 17

Radium girls

Answer 17

1920’s; painted clock hands with radium; oral exposure; >50 died

Question 18

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Answer 18

1945; atomic bombs in WWII

Question 19

Chernobyl

Answer 19

1986; Ukraine; nuclear plant meltdown

Question 20

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Answer 20

1906; exposed meat packing industry unsanitary conditions

Question 21

tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (TOCP)

Answer 21

1920’s Prohibition; added to medicinal alcohol as bittering agent; resulted in ginger-Jake paralysis of hands and feet

Question 22

diethylene glycol (DEG)

Answer 22

first used as solvent for medicines in 1930s; resulted in kidney failure in children due to formation of oxalic acid in kidney tubules

Question 23

thalidomide

Answer 23

1950’s; Europe; anti-nausea drug for pregnant women; teratogen

Question 24

Frances Kelsey

Answer 24

1950’s; FDA toxicologist who required additional testing of thalidomide before approval; was never approved in the U.S. because of her

Question 25

diethylstilbestrol (DES)

Answer 25

1940s; drug to prevent miscarriages; female babies grew into teenagers with higher incidence of rare form of vaginal cancer; first example of transplacental carcinogenesis

Question 26

chlorine gas

Answer 26

chemical warfare agent used by Germans in WWII

Question 27

tabun

Answer 27

chemical warfare agent developed when testing/developing new organophosphate insecticides

Question 28

inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (ACh) results in?

Answer 28

excess ACh signaling ➡ SLUD syndrome & death

Question 29

SLUD syndrome

Answer 29

salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation

Question 30

DDT

Answer 30

1940's; ecotoxicant; increased fragility of eggshells; ⬇ bird population; inspiration for Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1960's

Question 31

Hitler suicide

Answer 31

1945; cyanide

Question 32

Jim Jones

Answer 32

1970's; cult of 900 followers died by cyanide suicide

Question 33

George Markov

Answer 33

1970s; Bulgarian dissident killed by umbrella tip poisoned with ricin

Question 34

Tokyo subway car poisoning

Answer 34

1990s; sarin (organophosphate chemical warfare gas)

Question 35

Viktor Yushchenko

Answer 35

2004; President of Ukraine; poisoned by dioxin

Question 36

chloracne

Answer 36

severe facial disfigurement caused by dioxin poisoning

Question 37

Alexander Litvinenko

Answer 37

2006; former Russian FSB officer killed by polonium 210

Question 38

Kim Jong-nam

Answer 38

2017; Kim Jong-Un's brother killed in Malaysian airport by VX, an organophosphate nerve agent

Question 39

Donora, PA smog

Answer 39

1940's; air inversion caused mass poisoning by severe air pollution

Question 40

Great Smog of London

Answer 40

1950's; mass poisoning by severe air pollution

Question 41

Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH

Answer 41

1950's; caught fire due to severe industrial pollution

Question 42

methyl isocyanate

Answer 42

1984; India; mass poisoning due to release from an insecticide plant

Question 43

Minamata Bay

Answer 43

1950's; Japan; methylmercury exposure due to fish ingestion caused CNS toxicity

Question 44

itai-itai disease

Answer 44

1960's; Japan; cadmium release by mining operation into river used for drinking water; manifests as brittle bones and many broken bones on x-rays

Question 45

Seveso, Italy

Answer 45

1970's; industrial explosion resulted in dioxin exposure and main effect report was chloracne