Editing Toxic heavy metal (section)

=== Arsenic ===
[[File:Orpiment mineral.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Orpiment]], a toxic arsenic mineral used in the tanning industry to remove hair from hides.]]

{{main|Arsenic poisoning}}

[[Arsenic]], as [[realgar]] ({{chem|As|4|S|4}}) and [[orpiment]] ({{chem|As|2|S|3}}), was known in ancient times. [[Strabo]] (64–50 BCE – c. AD 24?), a Greek geographer and historian,{{sfn|Dueck|2000|pp=1–3, 46, 53}} wrote that only slaves were employed in realgar and orpiment mines since they would inevitably die from the toxic effects of the fumes given off from the ores. Arsenic-contaminated beer poisoned over 6,000 people in the Manchester area of England in 1900, and is thought to have killed at least 70 victims.{{sfn|Dyer|2009}} [[Clare Luce]], American ambassador to Italy from 1953 to 1956, suffered from [[arsenic poisoning]]. Its source was traced to flaking arsenic-laden paint on the ceiling of her bedroom. She may also have eaten food contaminated by arsenic in flaking ceiling paint in the embassy dining room.{{sfn|Whorton|2011|p=356}} [[Arsenic contamination of groundwater|Ground water contaminated by arsenic]], as of 2014, "is still poisoning millions of people in Asia".{{sfn|Notman|2014}}