Ten hyped highs, the poison squad, and Lyme disease: Weekly Web Review in Toxicology

Thefix.com interviews medical toxicologist Dr. Jeff Lapoint for a “Straight look at 10 Hyped Highs.” Topics include salvia, methoxetamine (“Mexxy”), Benzo Fury (6-APB), kratom, and Bromo Dragonfly. Worth reading. At Esquire, Bruce Watson writes about “The Poison Squad: An Incredible HIstory.” This piece tells the story of a project, run by Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley in the very early years of the twentieth century, to investigate the potential health hazards of various food additives. Officially called the “hygienic table trials”, the were quickly— and more accurately — dubbed the “poison squad”. Volunteers were fed increasings amounts of additives such as borax, sulfuric acid, saltpeter, formaldehyde, and copper sulfate. Wiley succeeded in demonstrating that many of these additives had deleterious effects, leading to passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Deborah Blum has also written about the “Poison Squad” on Slate. Podcasts: At the Journal of Medical Toxicology podcast, Drs. Howard Greller and Daniel Rusyniak discuss articles in the June 2013 issue, including papers about opioid receptor polymorphism and the toxicology of the so-called Z-drugs (Zolpidem, Zopiclone, and Zaleplon). In the first Clinical Toxicology podcast, editor Dr. Martin Caravati interviews Dr. Jess Benson about his recently published position paper about gastric lavage. TPR reviewed thi...
Source: The Poison Review - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Medical designer drugs legal highs lyme disease poison square weekly web review in toxicology Source Type: news