gutter_ca
Hazard to Others
Posts: 173
Registered: 7-6-2010
Location: California
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Mood: Bored at work!
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Pharmacology Student Poisons Self
Possibly with lead azide:
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/boston/120071746108...
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peach
Bon Vivant
Posts: 1428
Registered: 14-11-2008
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Mood: No Mood
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I seem to recall a story in the UK news recently (last few weeks) about a female university student poisoning herself. Hers was a case of suicide. I
believe the chemical in question was sodium (or potassium?) cyanide. The article featured a picture of what was clearly a laboratory bottle, although
whether or not that was the bottle I don't know. Disappointed I could not remember her name or degree, and searching for the article,
I found some more examples:
2003 - Joseph McDonald, 58, research chemist at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (one of my locals). Cyanide. Killed
himself after being ripped off by workmen at his house (I suspect, the last straw rather than the sole reason).
2004 - Marc Heap, 18, Lancs. Cyanide. Going to university the next week. Had suffered from acne problems and was tired of it all.
2010 - Arthur (physicist) and Mary Prior. 90 and 87. Married for 60 years. His wife was taken into care. He took her home and they were found dead,
drinking cyanide laced tea at the dining table. 
As with many suicides, perhaps bar the last, they weren't necessary (Arthur was pro choosing to die). Acne can clear up very quickly all by it's self,
and the 58 year old chemist, the small claims court is a fun, fun place! The judge gave me an extra £50 for the defendant wasting my time while I was
there. Then asked me if I'd like him to pay the bus fair.  I'd cycled, so
declined.
Cyanide, one of the oldest choices, still seems to be with us. Perhaps not something to sell to newer members in this light. The news coverage only
makes it more likely others will opt for and seek it out. As far as I'm aware, there are no public laboratory suppliers who stock cyanides, so they'd
likely look for individuals with a bottle or two. Wouldn't be surprised if this is also cyanide.
{edit} Found more: {edit}
2002, Dennis Elwell, 49, Shropshire. Cyanide. Lottery winner. Wife left him.
2006, Dr Francis Manning, 41, lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, Merseyside / Wirral (that is actually where I live). Biochemistry and
toxicology. Relationship problems with his fiancee. Had drunk methanol from work about a decade earlier. Cyanide.
2007, Belfast, Mr Hunter, 28. Cyanide.
2009, two women, 30's and 50's, hotel in London. Potassium cyanide.
[Edited on 11-4-2012 by peach]
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Hexavalent
International Hazard
Posts: 1564
Registered: 29-12-2011
Location: Wales, UK
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Mood: Pericyclic
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Such a shame that this kind of thing can happen to people with so much potential . . .I wonder how much they actually ingested versus the LD50/
"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
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DJF90
International Hazard
Posts: 2266
Registered: 15-12-2007
Location: At the bench
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I recall reading a while ago about people gassing themselves in cars/dormrooms with H2S. I dont remember the details but I'm sure a search will yield
fruit.
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peach
Bon Vivant
Posts: 1428
Registered: 14-11-2008
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Mood: No Mood
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That was (is?) popular in Japan.
Someone discovered that a certain domestic product contained large amounts of something sulphur bearing. So they'd fill a bucket with it and then
release the gas. It went as far as sites offering printable instructions and labels to stick on the windows of cars and rooms, warning the authorities
that it was in the air.
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quicksilver
International Hazard
Posts: 1820
Registered: 7-9-2005
Location: Inches from the keyboard....
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Mood: ~-=SWINGS=-~
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Many years back NaN3 was used to wire out living organisms in Petri dishes. Large firms used it consistently and quite a bit of training was given to
new employees. It's LD50 is quite close to potassium cyanide. Simple skin contact in a trapped position (under a glove adjacent to delicate skin)
could easily make many people very sick. Tens of milligrams in mucus membranes would be close to fatality depending upon weight of sample and subject.
(Merck)
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danielleB
Harmless
Posts: 4
Registered: 24-4-2012
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Mood: No Mood
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To sad to hear that. I can'y imagine this things could happen.
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MagicJigPipe
International Hazard
Posts: 1554
Registered: 19-9-2007
Location: USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suspicious
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"A sodium azide, which is in air bags, but it can metabolize into some kind of cyanide"
Well, I guess you can't expect firefighters to know everything.
And I wonder if "A" was a typo or if he actually said that. If so, I wonder what he meant by "a sodium azide"?
EDIT
And if I was going to guess as to the cause of her suicide I would say it was the pressure of trying to get her dissertation written on time OR she
might have screwed up something in her research OR her research wasn't yielding anything either due to her or her professor's incompetence.
[Edited on 5-5-2012 by MagicJigPipe]
"There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry ... There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any
question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ... We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and
that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think,
free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
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