Lethal Dose

We're wrapping up this month's cyanide series with the 1986 murders of Sue Snow and Bruce Nickell by tainted Excedrin. For more information on cyanide in product tampering, check out the Chicago Tylenol Murders on Patreon. Or you can just listen to this episode and we'll touch on it a bit, too. You do you. Just be nice to others. (1) Olson, G. Bitter Almonds: The True Story of Mothers, Daughters,...

In the second episode of our cyanide series, we talk about the rise and fall of Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple, a cult that ended in a massacre of 918 people in 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, South America. (1) Guinn, J. The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple ; Simon & Schuster, 2017. (2) Layton, D. Seductive Poison: a Jonestown survivor's story of life and death in the Peoples...

In this episode, we're covering the use of the cyanide-containing pesticide Zyklon B by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Shit gets heavy. (1) Atkinson, J. Ethnic cleansing in Roman Alexandria in 38. Acta Classica 2006 , 49 , 31-54. (2) Jeffreys, D. Hell's Cartel ; Bloomsbury, 2009. (3) Hayes, P. From Cooperation to Complicity: Degussa in the Third Reich ; Cambridge University Press, 2004. (4) Fried...

This episode continues our overarching history of arsenic and covers the on-going mass poisoning of groundwater in Bangladesh that was first identified in 1978 or 1983. (1) Meharg, A. A. Venomous Earth; Macmillan, 2005. (2) Carey, M.; Meharg, C.; Meharg, A. A.; Williams, P.; Marwa, E.; Jiujin, X.; Farias, J. G.; De Silva, P. M. C. S.; Signes-Pastor, A.; Lu, Y.; et al. Global sourcing of low-inorga...

This episode is a deep-dive into a purgative that has withstood the test of time, for better or for worse. To demonstrate the dangers of ipecac in the wrong hands, Kayla tells Venus about the 1994 trials of Christina Rubio for the attempted murder of her daughter and the murder of her son. Trigger warnings for discussion of child abuse and death, and for discussion of eating disorders. (1) Dioscor...

In 2007, there was a large-scale poisoning of babies from drinking tainted milk powder in China, which was covered up by government officials and dairy industry executives. This wasn't the first time melamine was used as an artificial protein in a food source, and, unfortunately, it also wasn't the last. 1. Branigan, T. Chinese figures show fivefold rise in babies sick from contaminated milk The G...

Even too much of a good thing can be deadly. This episode covers the accidental water intoxication death of Jennifer Strange in 2007 following a radio station contest. Mentions of child abuse later on in the show. 1. . Police Probe Water Intoxication Death CBS News [Online], 2007. cbsnews.com/news/police-probe-water-intoxication-death/ (accessed 07 Apr 2022). 2. . DJs sacked over fatal water drink...

This episode is an overview of the dangers of synthetic cannabinoids and some mythbusting about their safety and their similarities to naturally produced cannabinoids. Stay safe, everyone! 1. Dawson, A. 2 dead, 41 hospitalized in Hillsborough from poisonous batch of 'Spice' Tampa Bay Times [Online], 2021. https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/12/15/2-dead-41-hospitalized-in-hillsborough-from-p...

We're throwing it back old school and discussing Socrates' state-ordered suicide by hemlock. Was he actually killed with hemlock, as Plato described, or was something else going on? 1. Plato, Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo. In The Last Days of Socrates, Radice, B., Ed. Penguin Books: New York, 1969. 2. Hughes, B., The Hemlock Cup. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2011. 3. Brickhouse, T. C.; Smith...

This episode continues our foray into poisons used by agents of the Russian government which we began examining in Episode 20: Ricin. We cover the creation of The Chamber, truth serums, and the polonium used to assassinate Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. 1. Volodarsky, B., The KGB's Poison Factory. Minneapolis: Frontline Books, 2009. 2. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for Selected Chemical-...

By popular listener demand, today's episode covers the 1978 assassination of Georgi Markov using one of the world's oldest poisons.  1. KGB. https://www.history.com/topics/russia/kgb (accessed 06 Jan 2022). 2. Pringle, R. W. Federal Security Service. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Security-Service (accessed 06 Jan 2022). 3. Murrell, K. B.;  Ioffe, G.; French, R. A. The Kremlin...

In 1915, an orderly at the German Odd Fellows home killed eight patients with chloroform. A hundred years later, chloroform was still being used for murderous purposes in the murder of Sameena Imam. 1. Blum, D., The Poisoner's Handbook. Penguin Books: New York, 2010. 2. Lane, B.; Gregg, W., Mors, Frederick. In The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, Berkley Books: New York, 1995. 3. Buxton, D. W., Joh...

Happy new year! In this episode, Kayla and Venus talk about one of the most popular poisons known to humans and how it was used in the serial slayings of indigenous Canadian women in the 1980s. Content warning for sexual assault, race-based hate crimes, crimes against sex workers, and brief mention of assault on a child. 1. Slingerland, E., Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civ...

This episode was our very first microdose made available to our patrons. Florence Maybrick was accused of fatally poisoning her husband, James Maybrick, with arsenic in 1899. She was tried and found guilty, but was justice served?

In this season 2 finale episode, Kayla relates the drama of the mysterious death of Jane Stanford by strychnine to Venus. Did she die from natural causes, or was our Mr. Body killed in the hotel room with the bottle of poison? 1. Christie, A., The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Project Gutenberg: gutenberg.org, 1997. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/863/863-h/863-h.htm#chap03 (accessed 16 Nov 2021)....

Wash your damn hands! Kayla and Venus talk with Bryce Cherven of Pastry Unicorn to discuss a slew of salmonella typhi poisonings at the hands of Mary Mallon in the late 1910's. 1. Typhoid Fever. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/typhoid . 2. Typhoid fever. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/typhoid-fever/symptoms-causes/syc-20378661 . 3. Goldman, B. Scientists get a handle on what...

Happy Halloween! This episode, we discuss one of the few instances of poisoned candy at Halloween with the 1858 Bradford Sweets Poisoning. 1. Arsenic Trioxide; ThermoFisher Scientific: fishersci.pt, 2020. 2. Ratnaike, R. N., Acute and chronic arsenic toxicity. Postgrad Med J 2003, 79, 391-396. 3. Parascandola, J., King of Poisons. Potomac Books: Washington, D.C., 2012. 4. Kang, L.; Pedersen, N., Q...

Don't believe everything you see in the movies. Spiking someone's drink with eye drops containing tetrahydrozoline won't get you more face time with Rachel McAdams, but it might kill Bradley Cooper. On this episode, Kayla and Venus discuss how Lana Clayton murdered her husband Steve Clayton in 2018. 1. Hagwood, R. S. Philanthropist Steven D. Clayton laid to rest, a year after his death South Flori...

The times are changing, but not fast enough. Venus and Kayla discuss the use of ketamine by emergency medical personnel under the direction of police forces in the United States and how the drug contributed to the death of James Britt, Jr. in 2019.  1. James Claude Britt Jr. https://obits.postandcourier.com/us/obituaries/charleston/name/james-britt-obituary?id=2084215 (accessed 24 Aug 2021)....

Do you know what the worst manmade medical disaster in history was? It wasn't all that long ago! Venus and Kayla discuss the poison that caused thousands of severe birth defects worldwide and has still yet to be fully addressed. 1. Ballentine, C. Sulfanilamide Disaster FDA Consumer [Online], 1981.  (accessed 12 Aug 2021). 2. Ruthenberg, K., Chapter 6: About the Futile Dream of an Entirely Ris...

On this season 2 premiere episode, Kayla and Venus talk with model and actress Saucy Stassi about the fentanyl-related death of Bailey Henke and the DEA operation that it inspired. Content warning for brief mention of sexual assault in the introduction. 1. Kolpack, D. Portland man says he will plead guilty to dealing fentanyl KATU2ABC [Online], 2015. https://katu.com/news/local/portland-man-says-h...

In this follow-up Patreon exclusive video to our main channel Birth Control Pill episode, Venus and Kayla discuss hormones, sexism, and genocide. Get ready to get mad. Trigger warnings for body talk including numbers and BMI, and for talk of incarceration and racism.

The history of the first hormonal birth control pill is a sordid tale of ethical violations committed against Puerto Rican women in the late 1950's by Harvard researchers, Proctor & Gamble, and funded by the founder of Planned Parenthood. 1. A Timeline of Contraception. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-timeline/ (accessed 03 May 2021). 2. Burnette, B. R. Comstock Act o...

From famous Reddit posts and teenage suicides that result in homicide trials to Texan winters and haunted houses, we cover it all on this episode. Content warning: abuse, suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders in teenagers. 1. Johnson, B. B., Something Wicked. In Endless Thread, Kelly, M. B., Ed. WBUR: wbur.org, 2018. 2. RBradbury1920 [MA] Post-it notes left in apartment. https://www.reddit.com/...

We are doing a giveaway for a free year-long Patreon subscription before season 1 ends and we go on summer break.