Reading guide for chapter 9- Toxicology Name Per. Use the following questions to help you find the main points and ideas in chapter 9. Not all answers will be hunt and peck. You may have to use prior knowledge and problem solving to answer. Introduction 1. What do toxicologists study? 2. What are the four ways that a person s body may be exposed to a drug or poison? a) b) c) d) 3. List four factors that affect the toxicity of any given drug. a) b) c) d) 4. List 6 main components of the human body that may be tested for drugs. a) b) c) d) e) f) History of Drug Identification and Toxicology
5. Why do you think arsenic earned the name inheritance powder? Murder by Poison 6. According to the CDC, in 2013 there were 16,121 homicides. Using the percentage given in the textbook, how many might have been due to poisoning? Show your math! 7. Why do you think poisoning fell out of favor as a way to kill someone? 8. What is the difference between acute and chronic poisoning? Give examples of each. Drugs and Crime 9. What is meant in the US by the term controlled substance? Give examples. 10. As of August 29, 2015, 48.4% of the prison population were in on drug offenses. (https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp) Less than 3% are in
for homicide, aggravated assault or kidnapping combined. Why might this statistic be rather misleading? In other words, why do you think there are so many drug offense convictions even though many of these same people are the ones committing murders and other violent offenses? Controlled Substances Copy the chart below onto a notebook-sized piece of paper. Be sure to make the chart large enough so you have room to write in the boxes. You do NOT need to copy everything from the charts found in the textbook. Pick a few key effects to include in your chart. Not all of the answers are found in the book. Hallucinogens Narcotics Stimulants Anabolic steroids Depressants Examples (include nicknames) Source Physical effects Psychological effects Other Organic Toxins 11. What does the term organic mean in the phrase organic toxin? 12. What are the two main ways poisons are absorbed by people? 13. What is a venom?
Alcohols 14. How can alcohols be toxic and yet the textbook says they are not directly poisonous? 15. What are some of the effects on the body from consuming alcohol? Bacterial Toxins 16. How might one become poisoned by a bacterial toxin? 17. What is a common technique used to kill the bacteria that produce deadly toxins in our food? 18. What is botox and what are three uses of it? 19. Why is tetanus prevalent around the world and yet rare in the US? Heavy Metals and Pesticides After reading the text, read through Figure 9-6. 20. Which three substances on the chart cause problems over time as it accumulates in the person s body? (Hint: what does the word chronic mean?) 21. A famous character in Alice in Wonderland is the Mad Hatter. Based on the the textbook, what probably caused the hatter to undergo personality changes? 22. Which has a distinct, common smell?
23. Poisoning by the substances on the chart are rare these days. Why do you think that is? Bioterrorism Agents 24. Why do you think ricin and anthrax make good bioterrorism agents? 25. Which agent caused the Hamilton, NJ post office to close in 2001? (It took 3 ½ years for it to be renovated, fumigated and reopened.) Case Studies Read through all four case studies on p. 260-261 before answering the questions that follow. 26. What were the three different methods that were used to poison the victims? 27. A storekeeper stated that Mary Ansell bought rat poison which contains phosphorus. Is the rat poison circumstantial or direct evidence? 28. What motive is shared by Mary Ansell and Stella Nickell? 29. Only 2 mg of ricin was used to kill Georgi Markov. A small paperclip has a mass of 1 gram. How many pieces would you have to cut the clip into to get a piece with a mass of 1 mg?