Forensic Toxicology

As part of my forensic science project, the next portion of my blog is entitled Forensic Toxicology. As some may know, forensic science is not just one field within the criminal justice community. It takes an entire team of biologists, chemists and even medical professionals to have a successful outcome.
So here it goes…
WHAT DOES A TOXICOLOGIST DO?
Forensic toxicologists perform tests on bodily samples and fluids to identify various drugs and chemicals present in the body, such as alcohol, illegal, prescription drugs, metals, and even gases.
Chemistry is a major component behind toxicology practices.
Some techniques include:
Liquid Chromatography

and Mass Spectrometry…

A lot of intricate detail goes into the work of forensic toxicology. Analyzing chemicals and foreign substances in the body may be a lengthy process, but I tell you about some cases where this field of forensics really paid off.


CRIMINAL CASES: HOW FORENSIC TOXICOLOGY PLAYS ITS PART

As part of my weekly research, I stumbled across an article written by Dr. Katherine Ramsland (The following text summarizes key points). 
Why is toxicology important?

• Determining accidental deaths
• Identifying substance abuse
• Suspecting foul play or murder

DETERMINING A CONCLUSION BASED ON TOXICOLOGY EVIDENCE:
Suicidal v. Accidental:
This title seems as if solving a deathly crime would be impossible, but Dr. Ramsland tells of how to differentiate between suicide and accident.
Excerpt from her article:
[A popular poison for suicide is carbon monoxide from a car engine, although drug overdoses or mixed doses of domestic medications are also widely used. Accidental deaths can result from overdoses of drugs such as opium, hyoscine, morphine and heroin. Examples of poisons that have been commonly used for murder are aconitine, atropine, strychnine, thallium, antimony, arsenic and cyanide.]
THE HISTORY OF CRIMINAL CASES:
The following are just some criminal cases of our history relating toxicology to cause of death:
Donald Harvey “Angel of Death” Born 1952… An American serial killers who claims to killing 87 people. As for his hospitalized victims, his favorite killing methods included cyanide, arsenic, and other toxic poisons which he administered through food, IV, and injection. He was active in the medical community, which made his killings almost undetectable.



Let’s look back hundreds of years ago to show how scientists could pick up on chemical components of foul play crimes:
Mary Ann Cotton 1832-1873… She was an English woman who was convicted of murdering her children and was believed to have murdered up to 21 other people by means of arsenic poisoning.

CONCLUSION OF THIS WEEK’S BLOG:

Although I have learned a lot about the chemistry techniques and terminology, I think it’s really interesting that even 100 years ago, scientists were able to test for poisons in the body of a victim and successfully charge the criminals. With today’s technology, as shown in the above segments, there is a whole world of tangibility for chemists and forensic scientists alike. I would say that forensic toxicology is one small but highly influential part of the forensic science field.