Editing Arsenic poisoning (section)

==History==
[[File:18891109 Arsenic complexion wafers - Helena Independent.png|thumb|An 1889 newspaper advertisement for "[[arsenic]] complexion wafers".<ref name=HelenaIndependent_18891109>{{cite news |title=A Woman's Face is Her Fortune (advertisement) |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/helena-independent-nov-09-1889-p-9/ |newspaper=The Helena Independent |date=November 9, 2000 |page=7 }}</ref> Arsenic was known to be poisonous during the [[Victorian era]].<ref name=NatGeo_20160922>{{cite magazine |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Arsenic Pills and Lead Foundation: The History of Toxic Makeup |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history/ |magazine=National Geographic |date=2016-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105180856/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history/ |archive-date=November 5, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]
Beginning in about 3000 BC arsenic was mined and added to copper in the alloying of [[Bronze Age|bronze]], but the adverse health effects of working with arsenic led to it being abandoned when a viable alternative, tin, was discovered.<ref name="Harper, 1987" >{{cite journal |last=Harper |first=M.  |year=1987 |title=Possible toxic metal exposure of prehistoric bronze workers |journal=British Journal of Industrial Medicine|volume=44 |issue=10 |pages=652–656 |ref=Harper, 1987 | doi = 10.1136/oem.44.10.652|pmid=3314977 |pmc=1007896}}</ref>

In addition to its presence as a poison, for centuries arsenic was used medicinally. It has been used for over 2,400 years as a part of traditional Chinese medicine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccmp.gov.tw/en/research/result_detail.asp?relno=51&selno=0&no=95&detailno=1020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225214633/http://www.ccmp.gov.tw/en/research/result_detail.asp?relno=51&selno=0&no=95&detailno=1020 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-02-25 |title=Application of arsenic trioxide for the treatment of lupus nephritis |publisher=Chinese Medical Association }}</ref> In the western world, arsenic compounds, such as [[salvarsan]], were used extensively to treat [[syphilis]] before [[penicillin]] was introduced. It was eventually replaced as a therapeutic agent by [[Sulfonamide (medicine)|sulfa drugs]] and then by other [[antibiotic]]s. Arsenic was also an ingredient in many tonics (or "[[patent medicine]]s").

In addition, during the [[Elizabethan era]], some [[women]] used a mixture of [[vinegar]], [[chalk]], and arsenic applied topically to whiten their skin. This use of arsenic was intended to prevent aging and creasing of the skin, but some arsenic was inevitably absorbed into the blood stream.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-06 |title=Arsenic Pills and Lead Foundation: The History of Toxic Makeup |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Science |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Victorian era]] (late 19th century) in the United States, U.S. newspapers advertised "arsenic complexion wafers" that promised to remove facial blemishes such as moles and pimples.<ref name=NatGeo_20160922/>

Some pigments, most notably the popular [[Paris Green|Emerald Green]] (known also under several other names), were based on arsenic compounds. Overexposure to these pigments was a frequent cause of accidental poisoning of artists and craftsmen.

Arsenic became a favored method for murder of the [[Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]], particularly among ruling classes in Italy allegedly. Because the symptoms are similar to those of [[cholera]], which was common at the time, arsenic poisoning often went undetected.<ref name=Whorton>{{cite book | author = James G. Whorton | year = 2011 | title = The Arsenic Century | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-960599-6 }}</ref>{{rp|63}}  By the 19th century, it had acquired the nickname "inheritance powder", perhaps because impatient heirs were known or suspected to use it to ensure or accelerate their inheritances.<ref name=Whorton/>{{rp|21}} It was also a common murder technique in the 19th century in domestic violence situations, such as the case of [[Rebecca Copin]], who attempted to poison her husband by "putting arsenic in his coffee".<ref>{{cite book|title=The great catastrophe of my life: divorce in the Old Dominion|last=Buckley|first=Thomas E.|isbn=978-0-8078-5380-1|location=Chapel Hill|oclc=614736213|year=2002|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/greatcatastrophe00thom}}</ref>

In post-WW1 [[Hungary]], arsenic extracted by boiling fly paper was used in an estimated 300 murders by the [[Angel Makers of Nagyrév]].

In imperial China, arsenic trioxide and sulfides were used in murder, as well as for capital punishment for members of the royal family or aristocracy.  Forensic studies have determined that the [[Guangxu Emperor]] (d. 1908) was murdered by arsenic, most likely ordered by the [[Empress Dowager Cixi]] or Generalissimo [[Yuan Shikai]].  Likewise, in ancient [[Korea]], and particularly in the [[Joseon Dynasty]], arsenic-sulfur compounds had been used as a major ingredient of ''sayak'' (사약; 賜藥), which was a poison cocktail used in [[capital punishment]] of high-profile political figures and members of the royal family.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imnews.imbc.com/replay/nwdesk/article/2084429_2687.html |title=MBC NEWS |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225013635/http://imnews.imbc.com/replay/nwdesk/article/2084429_2687.html |archive-date=2007-12-25 }}</ref> Due to social and political prominence of the condemned, many of these events were well-documented, often in the [[Annals of Joseon Dynasty]]; they are sometimes portrayed in historical television [[miniseries]] because of their dramatic nature.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080423171648/http://spn.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/02/18/2008021800711.html 구혜선, '왕과 나' 폐비윤씨 사약받는 장면 열연 화제]</ref>

One of the worst incidents of [[Water supply and sanitation in Bangladesh#Arsenic contamination of groundwater|arsenic poisoning via well water occurred in Bangladesh]], which the World Health Organization called the "largest mass poisoning of a population in history"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/2000/issue9/bu0751.pdf|title=Contamination of drinking-water by arsenic in Bangladesh: a public health emergency|access-date=2013-08-27|publisher=World Health Organisation|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904090600/http://www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/2000/issue9/bu0751.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-04}}</ref> and was recognized as a major public health concern. The contamination in the Ganga-Brahmaputra fluvial plains in India and Padma-Meghna fluvial plains in Bangladesh demonstrated adverse impacts on human health.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiawaterportal.org/topics/arsenic|title=Arsenic|website=www.indiawaterportal.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref>

Arsenic poisoning from exposure to groundwater is believed to be responsible for the illness experienced by those that witnessed the [[2007 Carancas impact event]] in [[Peru]], as local residents inhaled steam which was contaminated with arsenic, produced from groundwater which boiled from the intense heat and pressure produced by a [[chondrite]] meteorite impacting the ground.<ref>{{cite web |date=2007-09-25 |title=How did a meteor make hundreds of people sick? |url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/peru-meteor.htm |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en-us}}</ref>