What has arsenic been used for in the past?

Arsenic has a long history of use as a homicidal agent, but in the past 100 years arsenic, has been used as a pesticide, a chemotherapeutic agent and a constituent of consumer products. In some areas of the world, high levels of arsenic are naturally present in drinking water and are a toxicological concern.

When did they stop making arsenic wallpaper?

By the time Crane designed The Peacock Garden in 1889, the British government had begun to regulate the use of arsenic in a variety of industries. Other manufacturers followed suit during the last decades of the 19th century until the presence of arsenic pigments in wallpaper became obsolete.

Does old wallpaper have arsenic?

In the early to mid-19th century, many European countries produced wallpaper laced with arsenic. However, while Sweden, Bavaria, and others were relatively quick to recognize the problem and ban such products—England was not. And Britain was, incidentally, wallpaper Mecca in the mid-to-late part of the century.

What were the uses of arsenic in the 1800’s?

Arsenic had a multitude of uses in the 1800s besides being used to beautify women. Therefore, nineteenth-century people bought it regularly. People who had reason to use it included pigment dyers, glass blowers, shot makers, and farmers. It was also used by nearly anyone needing to kill vermin, such as rats.

Why was arsenic first used?

In 1910, German pharmacologist Paul Ehrlich developed the arsenic-based drug Salvarsan, also known as arsphenamine, as a treatment for syphilis, a disease that was endemic and incurable at the time.

Is it illegal to buy arsenic?

Toxic chemicals such as strychnine, arsenic and cyanide are freely available for sale on the internet, leading toxicologists have warned. He trawls the site every day for potential toxins and emails sellers to explain that they are handling illegal substances.

When was arsenic banned?

There has been no domestic production of arsenic since 1985. In 2003, the world’s largest producer of arsenic compounds was China, followed by Chile and Peru. In 2003, the United States was the world’s largest consumer of arsenic [ATSDR 2007].

When did people know arsenic was poisonous?

In the rest of Europe from the time of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, arsenic was the king of poisons. Mineral forms of arsenic were known as early as the fourth century BC, but the German scholastic Albertus Magnus is usually accredited with the discovery of the element around 1250.

What was arsenic used for in the 1920s?

Odorless and colorless, it went into food as food coloring, and it was used in beauty products, such as arsenic complexion wafers that promised women pure white skin, until as late as the 1920s. It was found in the fabric of baby carriages, plant fertilizers, medicines. It even was taken as a libido pill in Austria.

When was arsenic first used?

Why is arsenic so toxic?

A small molecule that can easily get into cells, arsenic can cause cell injury and death by multiple mechanisms. Interference with cellular respiration explains the potent toxicity of arsenic. In addition, arsine gas may interact directly with red cell membranes.

How bad is inhaling arsenic?

Breathing in high levels of arsenic can cause a sore throat and irritated lungs. Swallowing high levels of arsenic can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness and cramping, skin rashes, and other problems. Exposure to high enough amounts of arsenic can be fatal.

How much arsenic is in wallpaper?

A typical wallpaper would contain around 700 mg/m2 so that an average-sized living room would hold around 30000 mg of arsenic, in theory enough to kill more than a hundred people. Most of this arsenic would remain on the walls of the room unless they became damp.

What is arsenic and how does it affect you?

Arsenic could also be given as a series of smaller doses, producing a more subtle form of chronic poisoning characterized by a loss of strength, confusion and paralysis. Eventually, the arsenic of choice emerged as so-called white arsenic or arsenic trioxide (As2O3); the fatal dose was known to be an amount equivalent in size to a pea.

Where do you find arsenic in the environment?

Inorganic arsenic compounds are in soils, sediments, and groundwater. These compounds occur either naturally, or as a result of mining, ore smelting, or when using arsenic for industrial purposes. Organic arsenic compounds exist mainly in fish and shellfish.

What was arsenic used for in the 1700s?

Beginning in the late 1700’s, arsenic was used as a pigment in paintings, fabrics and wallpaper. One popular pigment, called Scheele’s green after the Swedish chemist who invented it, was a bright green hue made from copper arsenite.