Toxic History!

This talk draws lessons about drug policy from the history of what Professor Herzberg calls “white markets,” i.e., legal psychoactive pharmaceuticals. America is famous for its drug wars, but from Bayer’s Heroin to Purdue’s OxyContin, white markets have always been far larger, and while they have caused three major public health catastrophes, they have also been a site of policy creativity that can serve as a model for maximizing the benefit, while reducing the harms, of these desirable but dangerous products.

Mercury has been used since before recorded history as a medicine, cosmetic, and poison. In this episode, we explore the liquid metal’s functions and forms in consumer products, from ancient alchemical potions to modern skin-whitening soaps.

Introducing The Consulting Toxicologist—a brand-new monthly fiction podcast where classic detective stories meet real medical toxicology.

Imagine Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Joan Watson in modern-day New York City. Holmes is still the world's greatest consulting detective—but Dr. Watson is now a consulting medical toxicologist, called in whenever a mysterious poisoning leaves everyone else searching for answers.

Check out The Consulting Toxicologist. Available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

Edgar Allan Poe built a legacy on poems and short stories that delved into the mysterious and the macabre--but the events surrounding his own death remain disturbingly unclear. Found confused and disoriented on Election Day in 1849, he died days later without an autopsy or explanation. This talk examines Poe's final illness and the toxicological theories that may have been the cause.

If you were to make a list of the people who have most shaped the world as we know it, Thomas Midgley, Jr. probably wouldn’t crack the top 50. Yet his influence has directly and indirectly touched the lives of billions across the last century and indeed continues to be felt to this day. Listen in to hear about the man who was responsible for developing not one but TWO of history’s worst toxins.

Watching fireflies on a summer evening is one of the joys of the season. However, a fireflies light harbors a secret, and that secret can kill.

Conspiracy theory….or conspiracy fact? MK Ultra was one of the most controversial government programs that engaged in mind blowing atrocities. Let’s go down the rabbit hole together and explore what is known about the history of this program…and perhaps consider if aspects of it may still exist today!

Dr. Robert Buchanan’s murder trial captivated the public with its shocking details and gruesome display. Take a deep dive into the tragic story of this physician, where, not one, but two innocent lives were caught in the wake of one man’s pride.

From controlling libido to epilepsy, bromides surged in popularity but experienced an equally precipitous decline in 19th century medicine. As the paradigm of disease explanation progressed from humors to pathology, bromides established a therapeutic foothold during this revolutionary period. What followed, however, were urban myths and consequences of toxicological significance. Used so ubiquitously, bromides earned a place in the colloquial lexicon as remarks repeated with such frequency that they become cliché or trite. Yet, this exploration on bromism promises to be anything but.

There is a long, perhaps to be forgotten, history of clinicians performing observational n=1 studies upon themselves to “prove” their safety and efficacy of the proposed therapy. The talk is to describe toxicology-related examples of this now discouraged practice.