Catastrophes, Poisons, Chemicals

Abstract

Catastrophes always attract a lot of public attention and, naturally, in the rush of the events that enter the news cycle in the media, there is seldom much chance to verify the accuracy of the background information. The 29 stories in this chapter cover nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima, cyanide spills, red mud slides and mass poisonings well after the events themselves, which provides sufficient time to understand the reasons and consequences. A closer look will be taken at the persistent rumor about Napoleon’s death by arsenic poisoning, and the supposed or sometimes very real toxicity of natural gas, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, cyanides, sorrel, Erin Brockovich’s chromium slats, acids in general, ozone, plastic resins, dioxins and bisphenol A. The stories also answer some interesting questions that have probably been never asked: Is a fire possible aboard a spaceship? What could have Sherlock Holmes meant when he identified a substance as ‘bisulphate of baryta’?