Arsenic is highly toxic, which can destroy the respiratory enzymes of some cells after entering the human body, making tissues and cells die without oxygen; It can also strongly stimulate gastrointestinal mucosa, causing mucosal ulceration and bleeding; It will also destroy blood vessels, bleeding, liver damage, and even death due to respiratory and circulatory failure. There are two symptoms of acute arsenic poisoning: gastrointestinal type, the most common. The attack time varies with the amount and degree of gastric filling, ranging from 15-30 minutes to 4-5 hours, generally about 1 hour. At first, there was a burning sensation, thirst and nausea in the throat, followed by severe abdominal pain and vomiting. At first, I vomited food, followed by yellow water and severe diarrhea. At first it was ordinary feces, and later it was like rice soup. Decreased urine volume, decreased body temperature and blood pressure, collapse, coma, and finally died of circulatory failure. Neurotype, relatively rare. If a large amount of arsenic is ingested at one time, it can cause serious circulatory failure, blood pressure drop, fast and weak pulse, shallow breathing and central nervous system paralysis. Its symptoms are dizziness, headache, muscle cramps, rapid unconsciousness, and then respiratory paralysis, and it can die within 1 hour. The toxic dose of arsenic trioxide is 0.005-0.05g, and the lethal dose is 0.1-0.2g. Some people can't die after eating a lot of arsenic (3g). This is due to the strong stimulation of arsenic on the stomach, causing strong vomiting, and the swallowed arsenic was spit out without being absorbed by the body, so it did not cause serious consequences.
Arsenic is the main component of arsenic. Arsenic is not toxic in nature, but its compounds are often very toxic. The white powder we usually see, namely arsenic, is impure arsenic trioxide. Centuries ago, the killer chose arsenic as a killing tool. In addition to toxicity, it is also difficult to be detected on a corpse because it is odorless and tasteless. In the early stage, the symptoms of arsenic poisoning are often confused with other diseases. It was not until the 1920s of 19 that the French emperor and famous military strategist Napoléon Bonaparte died that scientists detected arsenic from him and realized the deadly effect of this toxic substance. When Napoleon just died, the official conclusion was that he died of stomach cancer. However, some scientists think that the wallpaper of Napoleon's bedroom contains a kind of green pigment. As the wallpaper gradually decays with moisture, the arsenic doped in this coating will gradually oxidize and evaporate in the form of steam. This is the root cause of Napoleon's death. Whether the secret of Napoleon's death can be attributed to arsenic or not, in France, people call arsenic "heritage powder", because it is said that many people use arsenic to poison their rich relatives in order to obtain inheritance rights. The toxic effects of arsenic can be seen from these legends.
The glorious history of arsenic
Arsenic was first used as an auxiliary drug to treat syphilis or tuberculosis, and was later developed to make pesticides or rodenticides. However, due to its extreme toxicity, arsenic has long been regarded as a killing weapon. For more than 2000 years, arsenic has been associated with words such as "poisoning" and "sudden death", so it is notorious.
However, medical research shows that a small amount of arsenic intake may be beneficial to human health, and this highly toxic substance can be used to treat some blood diseases. More and more scientists and doctors are beginning to devote themselves to developing the benign effects of arsenic. It's time to clear the name of arsenic.
Although arsenic is undoubtedly a "first-class" poison, it is not without its merits. Arsenic can play many roles in treating human diseases. Historically, arsenic compounds have long been used to treat sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, skin diseases and other stubborn diseases. Samuel Waxman, a professor of clinical medicine and oncologist at Mount Sinai Medical College in new york, USA, said: "People are always afraid of arsenic poisoning and think it is the cause of tumors. But back to the time of Hippocrates (Hippocrates was a famous doctor in ancient Greece who lived from 460 BC to 370 BC and was called the father of medicine), it was used to treat diseases in one form or another. The medicinal peak of arsenic is from the end of 19 to the beginning of the 20th century, and almost all pharmacists will use this medicine. " In Styria in the19th century, which is now southern Australia and northern Slovenia, farmers there often took a certain dose of arsenic to strengthen their physique; In Britain in the17th century, various compounds of arsenic were used to prepare preservatives; Arsenic fanamin, an arsenic compound discovered in 1909, has been used to treat spirochete infections such as syphilis and yaws for a long time, and it was not replaced by penicillin until the 1940s.
Arsenic works wonders.
Nowadays, the use of arsenic has been strictly controlled, but arsenic is still indispensable in the treatment of some parasitic diseases. Besides the medical field, arsenic is also an indispensable element in semiconductor devices. At this time, arsenic mostly exists in the form of gallium arsenic compounds. In recent years, with the more and more extensive understanding of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the practice of treating some tumor diseases, especially acute spinal leukemia, with arsenic has also been confirmed. Due to the mutation of genetic factors in the body, patients with this blood disease will have protein abnormality, and the normal production and death of white blood cells will be disturbed. As confirmed by the US Food and Drug Administration, arsenic trioxide can make deformed protein have the ability of self-destruction, thus making the growth of white blood cells return to normal. Waxman said: "It can be said that this drug may be the best drug form for the foreseeable treatment of this leukemia." Some doctors also believe that arsenic trioxide has less side effects on patients than conventional chemotherapy. Arsenic trioxide has been increasingly used in clinical practice to treat cancers, such as lymphoma, prostate cancer or uterine cancer.
Recent studies also show that a small amount of arsenic is also an indispensable nutrient for human body, which can promote the metabolism of methionine, thus preventing the growth disorders of hair, skin and nails. Eric Utes, a pharmaceutical researcher at the official Fox Human Nutrition Research Center in the United States, believes that a small amount of arsenic is harmless and even beneficial to the human body. But he added that this does not mean that people should blindly "take a potentially dangerous way" to supplement arsenic, and "it would be much better to improve basic eating habits".
Emergency treatment
1. If anyone is found to be poisoned by eating arsenic by mistake, he should induce vomiting as soon as possible and discharge the poison. The method of inducing vomiting is to let patients drink plenty of warm water or dilute salt water (a glass of water plus a spoonful of salt). Then put the index finger and middle finger into the mouth and the root of the tongue to stimulate the pharynx, and you can vomit. It is best to let the patient drink water and vomit repeatedly until the color of the spit liquid is like water.
2. Burnt steamed bread can be ground and eaten by patients to absorb toxins. You can also drink more milk (3-5 bottles) and egg whites (4-5) to protect the gastric mucosa.
3. After arsenic poisoning, whether you can get proper first aid treatment is the key to the patient's life and death. Then we should hurry to the hospital, because modern medicine has a special antidote for arsenic poisoning-dimercaprol, which can combine with poisons to form non-toxic substances after entering the human body.
Arsenic characteristics
This product is white powder, odorless and tasteless, soluble in water, ethanol, acid and alkali. When heated, it will rise and spread and smell like garlic.
Pinyin: Pi Shuang
Classification: refined products obtained by sublimation of arsenolite.
Processing: "Herbal Yi Yan": "Put raw tobacco on the fire and cover it with utensils, so that the tobacco can fly, touch the utensils and coagulate, making it droop like a nipple, and the elderly will win, followed by flat and short. The big ones are inferior, and the small ones are extremely inferior. When you take medicine, you should be the elder of the nipple. "
Chemical composition: Arsenic trioxide or arsenic trioxide (As2 O3) is the main component, white and octahedral. Arsenic trioxide can be sublimated by heating, so it is easy to extract. The sublimate is commonly known as arsenic, and its composition is As2 O3. Red arsenolite is a kind of arsenolite which contains red minerals besides AS2 O3. It mainly contains arsenic hexaoxide and As4O6, and it is red if it contains trivalent iron and sulfide. Natural products still contain a few elements, such as tin, iron, antimony, calcium, magnesium, titanium, aluminum and silicon. The impurity composition of processed products depends on raw materials and processing technology.
Nature and taste: bitter, hot and poisonous.
Functions: expectorant, antiasthmatic, antimalarial, erosive and insecticidal.
Indications: Treating cold phlegm asthma, malaria, dysentery, syphilis, hemorrhoids, scrofula, toothache, tinea, ulcer and carrion.