Thallium poisoning: Difference between revisions

There are two main methods of removing both radioactive and stable isotopes of thallium from humans. First known was to use [[Prussian blue]], (potassium ferric hexacyanoferrate) which is a solid [[ion exchange]] material, which absorbs thallium. Up to 20&nbsp;g per day of Prussian blue is fed by mouth to the person, and it passes through their digestive system and comes out in the [[Human feces|stool]]. [[Hemodialysis]] and [[hemoperfusion]] are also used to remove thallium from the blood stream. At later stage of the treatment additional potassium is used to mobilize thallium from the tissue.<ref>[http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/prussianblue.asp Prussian blue fact sheet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020123050/http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/prussianblue.asp |date=2013-10-20 }} from the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Malbrain, M. L. |author2=Lambrecht, G. L. |author3=Zandijk, E. |author4=Demedts, P. A. |author5=Neels, H. M. |author6=Lambert, W. |author7=de Leenheer, A. P. |author8=Lins, R. L. |author9=Daelemans, R. | title = Treatment of Severe Thallium Intoxication | journal = Clinical Toxicology | year = 1997 | volume = 35 | issue = 1 | pages = 97–100 | doi = 10.3109/15563659709001173 | pmid = 9022660}}</ref> Other methods of treatment could be [[Gastric lavage|stomach pumping]], use of [[Activated carbon|activated charcoal]], or bowel irrigation depending on the prognosis.

In [[Australia]], in the early 1950s, there was a notable spate of cases of murder or attempted murder by thallium poisoning. At this time, due to the chronic rat infestation problems in overcrowded inner-city neighbourhoods (notably in Sydney), and thallium's effectiveness as a rat poison, it was still readily available over the counter in [[New South Wales]], where [[Thallium(I) sulfate|thallium(I) sulphate]] was marketed as a commercial rat bait, under the brand ''[[Sayers, Allport & Potter#Products|Thall-rat]] .''

* In September&nbsp;1952 [[Yvonne Gladys Fletcher]], a housewife and mother of two from the inner [[Sydney, New South Wales|Sydney]] suburb of [[Newtown, New South Wales|Newtown]], was charged and tried for the murders of both her first husband, Desmond Butler (who died in 1948), and her abusive second husband, Bertrand "Bluey" Fletcher, a rat-bait layer, from whom she had obtained the thallium poison that she used to kill him earlier that year. Suspicions were raised after it became obvious to friends and neighbours that Bluey Fletcher was suffering from the same fatal illness that had killed Yvonne's first husband. A police investigation led to the exhumation and testing of Desmond Butler's remains, which showed clear evidence of thallium, and this led to Yvonne being convicted of Butler's murder. She was [[Capital punishment|sentenced to death]] but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the NSW Government [[Capital punishment in Australia|abolished the death penalty]]; she was eventually released in 1964. At the time of the trial it was reported that this was the first known case in Australia of a person being convicted of murder by administering thallium.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18283164 |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |date=24 September 1952 |access-date=31 January 2013 |title=[no title cited]}}{{full citation|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name="dailytelegraph.com.au">{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/post-war-days-of-thallium-and-old-lace/story-fn6ccwsa-1226060629402 |first=Marea |last=Donnelly |title=Post-war days of thallium and old lace |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |place=Australia |date=23 May 2011 |access-date=31 January 2013}}</ref> The Fletcher case is also notable for the fact that one of the arresting officers was Sydney detective [[Fred Krahe]], who later became notorious for his suspected close involvement with elements of Sydney's organised crime scene and his alleged involvement in the disappearance of social activist [[Juanita Nielsen]].

* In 1953 Sydney woman Veronica Monty, 45, was tried for the attempted murder of her son-in-law, noted [[Balmain, New South Wales|Balmain]] and Australian rugby league player [[Bob Lulham]], who was treated for thallium poisoning in 1952. After separating from her husband Monty had moved in with her daughter Judy and Judy's husband, Bob Lulham. The sensational trial revealed that Lulham and Monty had an "intimate relationship" while Lulham's wife was at [[Mass (liturgy)|Sunday mass]]. Monty was found not guilty; Judy Lulham divorced her husband as a result of the revelations about his affair and Monty killed herself with thallium in 1955.<ref name="dailytelegraph.com.au"/>

* In July&nbsp;1953, Sydney woman Beryl Hague was tried for "maliciously administering thallium and endangering her husband's life". Hague confessed to buying ''Thall-rat'' from a corner shop and putting it in her husband's tea because she wanted to "give him a headache to repay the many headaches he had given me" in violent disputes.<ref name="dailytelegraph.com.au"/>

* In 1953 Australian [[Caroline Grills]] was sentenced to life in prison after three family members and a close family friend died. Authorities found thallium in tea that she had given to two other family members. Grills spent the rest of her life in Sydney's [[Long Bay Correctional Centre|Long Bay Gaol]], where fellow inmates dubbed her "Aunt Thally".<ref name="dailytelegraph.com.au"/><ref name="bbc-thallium">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6163520.stm |title=What is thallium? |website=[[BBC News]] |date=19 November 2006 |access-date=21 November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/post-war-days-of-thallium-and-old-lace/story-fn6ccwsa-1226060629402 |first=Marea |last=Donnelly |title=Post-war days of thallium and old lace |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=23 May 2011 |place=Australia}}</ref>

* In 1977, a 19&nbsp;month-old girl living in [[Qatar]] fell ill due to thallium poisoning (from pesticides used by her parents). While doctors were unable to identify the cause, a [[Nursing|nurse]] named Marsha Maitland managed to do it from the description of the symptoms given in ''[[The Pale Horse]]''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeyfuCFgDj8C&pg=PA325 |via=Google Books |title=The Elements of Murder: A history of poison|isbn=9780191517358 |last1=Emsley |first1=John |date=28 April 2005 }}{{full citation|date=July 2020}}</ref>

* In summer 1981 the [[East Germany|East German]] secret service "[[Stasi]]" poisoned dissident Wolfgang Welsch, who had previously been expelled to [[West Germany]], during his holiday in [[Israel]]. He barely survived.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/wissen/article102972391/Giftmord-Thallium-hat-Arsen-abgeloest.html |title=Giftmord Thallium hat Arsen abgeloest |id=Print archive article 102972391 |newspaper=Morgen Post |place=Germany |lang=de}}{{full citation |date=July 2020}}</ref>

* In 1987, in [[Kyiv|Kiev]], a woman named [[Tamara Ivanyutina]] was arrested along with her older sister and parents. They were found guilty of 40&nbsp;cases of poisoning (13 of them lethal) with [[Clerici solution]] obtained from an acquaintance working at a geology institute. Tamara (guilty of nine deaths, including four children) was executed in one of the three documented cases of women receiving the [[Capital punishment in the Soviet Union|capital punishment in post-Stalin Soviet Union]]. Her relatives received prison terms, the parents dying in jail.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bizarrepedia.com/tamara-ivanyutina-family-killers |title=Tamara Ivanyutina and her family of serial killers |website=Bizarrepedia}}</ref>

* In 1988, members of the Carr family from [[Alturas, Florida|Alturas]], [[Polk County, Florida]], fell ill from what appeared to be thallium poisoning. Peggy Carr, the mother, died slowly and painfully from the poison. Her son and stepson were critically ill but eventually recovered. The Carrs' neighbor, chemist [[George J. Trepal]], was convicted of murdering Mrs.&nbsp;Carr and attempting to murder her family, and sentenced to death. The thallium was slipped into bottles of [[Coca-Cola]] at the Carr and Trepal homes.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Case of Trepal, George (w/m) |department=The Commission on Capital Cases |publisher=State of Florida |url=http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/case_updates/121965.doc |access-date=2007-11-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216100348/http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/case_updates/121965.doc |archive-date=2008-02-16}}</ref>

* In 1995, [[Zhu Ling (poisoning victim)|Zhu Ling]] was the victim of an [[Thallium poisoning case of Zhu Ling|unsolved attempted thallium poisoning]] in [[Beijing]], China. In 1994, Zhu Ling was a sophomore studying physical chemistry at [[Tsinghua University]] in Beijing. She began to show strange and debilitating symptoms at the end of 1994, when she reported experiencing acute stomach pain and extensive hair loss. Ultimately she was diagnosed on [[Usenet]] with poisoning by thallium. To this day, there is still speculation among [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese expatriates]] overseas as to the poisoner's identity. The only suspect of the police investigation, Sun Wei, is a member of a family with high-level political connections, which may have been used to halt and suppress the results of the investigation. Sun Wei was Zhu Ling's classmate and roommate in Tsinghua University from 1992–1997. Tsinghua University also said she was the only student who had access to thallium compounds at the school. The investigation's results have never been released to Zhu Ling's parents or the general public. However, Tsinghua University declined to issue Sun Wei's B.S. certificate and refused to provide her with the documentation needed to get a passport or visa in 1997. In 2018 the victim's hair has been examined by the University of Maryland geologist Richard Ash using [[laser ablation]] [[ICP-MS]] [[mass spectrometry]].<ref name="AshHe2018">{{cite journal |last1=Ash |first1=Richard David |last2=He |first2=Min |year=2018 |title=Details of a thallium poisoning case revealed by single hair analysis using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry |journal=Forensic Science International |volume=292 |pages=224–231 |issn=0379-0738 |doi=10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.10.002 |pmid=30343235|s2cid=53036754 }}</ref> He was able to confirm the timeline and pattern of poisoning.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181213190619.htm |title=Mass spectrometry sheds new light on thallium poisoning cold case |date=2018-12-13 |website=sciencedaily.com |access-date=2018-12-25|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12/new-study-establishes-timeline-for-famous-thallium-poisoning-cold-case/ |author=Ouellette, Jennifer |title=Study brings us one step closer to solving 1994 thallium poisoning case |date=25 December 2018 |website=Ars Technica |access-date=26 December 2018}}</ref>

* In February&nbsp;2007, two Americans, Marina and Yana Kovalevsky, a mother and daughter, visiting Russia were hospitalized for thallium poisoning. Both had emigrated from the [[Soviet Union]] to the United States in 1991 and had made several trips to Russia since then.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257278,00.html |title=Embassy confirms hospitalization of two Americans for thallium poisoning |website=Foxnews.com |date=7 March 2007 |access-date=7 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/07/russia.topstories3|title = US pair fall ill in Moscow from thallium poisoning|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 7 March 2007}}</ref>

* In 2011, a chemist at [[Bristol-Myers Squibb]] in [[New Jersey]], Li Tianle, was charged with the murder of her husband. According to an investigation by the [[Middlesex County, New Jersey|Middlesex County]] Prosecutor's Office, Li Tianle was able to obtain a chemical containing thallium and fed it to her husband.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Death-by-Poison-NJ-Police-Charge-Woman-in-Death-of-her-Husband-115590444.html |title=Death by poison N.J. police charge woman in death of her husband |website=NBC New York |date=8 February 2011}}</ref> Li was a chemistry student at Beijing[[Peking University]] at the time of the highly publicized thallium poisoning of [[Zhu Ling (poisoning victim)|Zhu Ling]] in 1995 at neighboring Tsinghua University.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/thallium_is_favored_method_of.html |title=A 15&nbsp;year-old case yields a timely clue in deadly thallium poisoning |website=NJ.com |series=News |date=13 February 2011}}</ref>

* In 2012 a chemistry [[Postgraduate education|postgraduate]] student at the [[University of Southampton]], UK, was found to be suffering from the effects of thallium and [[arsenic]] poisoning after presenting with neurological symptoms.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-19603564 |title=Southampton University labs shut after student poisoning |website=[[BBC News]] |date=14 September 2012 |access-date=8 June 2017}}</ref> The student underwent an intensive course of treatment and, although he has shown improvement, faces an uncertain long-term prognosis for the recovery of full locomotion. Urine screening revealed elevated thallium levels in a small number of other members of the chemistry department, though none were at toxic levels. The source of the poisoning remains unknown, and although police investigations were fruitless, foul play is strongly suspected.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

* In 2022, an English family court found an unnamed doctor guilty of using thallium in a pot of coffee to kill his partner's father and injuring the partner and her mother in 2012. The case is unusual because it was in a [[family court]], arising out of child-custody matters, rather than a criminal case.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jan/31/nhs-doctor-killed-his-partners-father-with-poison-civil-court-finds|title=NHS doctor killed his partner's father with poison, civil court finds|website=[[TheGuardian.com]]|date=31 January 2022}}</ref>

* [[Ngaio Marsh]] used [[Thallous acetate|thallium acetate]] in her 1947 detective novel, ''[[Final Curtain (novel)|Final Curtain]]''. It was being used legitimately for [[scalp]] problems in a group of school children just after World War II, housed in a private estate. A relative living there used it in place of the heart medicine intended for the owner.

* [[Agatha Christie]], who worked as an [[apothecary]]'s assistant, used thallium in 1961 as the agent of murder in her [[detective fiction]] novel [[The Pale Horse (novel)|''The Pale Horse'']] – the first clue to the murder method coming from the hair loss of the victims. This novel is notable as being credited with having saved at least two lives after readers recognised the symptoms of thallium poisoning that Christie described.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jeff |last=Aronson |year=2007 |title=When I use a word: Colourful metals |journal=British Medical Journal |volume=334 |issue=7586 |page=205 |pmc=1781989 |doi=10.1136/bmj.39091.708981.BE |url=}}</ref> ''The Pale Horse'' was found among possessions of convicted thallium poisoner [[George Trepal]]'s wife, the orthopedic surgeon Dr.&nbsp;Diana Carr (see above), who was herself considered a suspect in the Peggy Carr (no relation) murder for a time.

* In the 2007 episode "[[Whatever It Takes (House)|Whatever It Takes]]" of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', a character uses thallium to poison a patient to mimic the effects of [[polio]], then appear to cure it with ultra-high doses of [[vitamin C]].

*In S6:E9 of [[Elementary (TV series)|''Elementary'']], entitled "Nobody Lives Forever" (2018), a biology professor studying how to prolong life spans is poisoned with thallium. As he dies, he falls onto a shelf containing his [[Laboratory rat|lab rats]], which escape and eventually eat part of his body. Some dead rats are found inside him, suggesting to the detectives that the cause of death was poisoning.