I love a good cup of hot cocoa or a large square of almond-laden dark chocolate bark this time of year. And I wouldn’t turn down double chocolate brownies or Christmas cookies dotted with chocolate chips. I’m a chocolate aficionado, so what’s not to love? But what I didn’t realize is that I will be contributing to my body’s burden of heavy metals. That’s right. Chocolate contains heavy metals, and some brands have more contamination than others.   A Consumer’s Report article from October 25, 2023, by Kevin Loria, A Third of Chocolate Products are High in Heavy Metals, CR’s Tests Find&nbs ..read more

Try your hand at identifying these poisons. Good luck! --Dr. Lily Robinson Answers below All rights reserved bjmagnani.com ..read more

In 1982 seven people died in the greater Chicago area after cyanide was substituted in acetaminophen capsules sold in stores. Once the association was made between the product (Extra Strength Tylenol) and random deaths by potassium cyanide, panic ensued. Over 100,000 stories regarding the case ran in US newspapers. While the perpetrator was never found (although there were suspicions of one individual), groundbreaking changes in the manufacturing industry set today’s standards for tamper-resistant packaging. The threat of cyanide persists. In my novels, Dr. Lily Robinson uses cyanide as a fas ..read more

The umbrella had been modified to inject a small pellet that contained a lethal toxin. In 1978 Gyorgi Markov, a Bulgarian journalist, was stabbed in the thigh with the tip of an umbrella while waiting at the Waterloo Bridge bus station in London. Markov became ill by evening and died several days later. At autopsy, the pathologist found a sphere with drilled holes, about the size of the head of a pin, embedded in the tissue. The pellet presumably contained ricin. The Cold War had taken another victim by assassination. The castor bean plant, Ricinus communis, originated in Asia and Africa but ..read more

Are you sitting dreamily with a vision of a potential lover in your life? Ignite the romance with flowers, chocolate, poetry, or perhaps, a love potion. It’s said a love potion will cause the object of your affection to fall in love with you, perhaps even promise everlasting love. Historically, some potions contained reptilian body parts, mashed worms, and different kinds of flowers. The ancient Greeks believed the Satyrion orchid was the key, while other native cultures explored the hallucinogenic properties of the Datura plant. But what about the notorious aphrodisiac Spanish fly? Was it th ..read more

I remember riding my horse on trails through the New York woods as a child and stopping to break off a twig of the black birch tree, sometimes called sweet birch. Native Americans understood the properties of these trees and others, hundreds of years before my horse and I blazed through the woods. I learned to identify Betula lenta by its scaly brownish-black bark and unmistakable minty fresh aroma. I knew where the trees grew and could counsel the inexperienced about a simple scratch-and-sniff test to distinguish black birch from black cherry whose bark looked similar—scratch the bark of a tw ..read more

“Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” The Three Witches brewed prophesy for Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but what about the witches from Salem, Massachusetts? Could ergot poisoning have produced the hallucinations, spasms, twitches—the bewitchment—that led to the Salem Witch trials? Some think so. Ergot is the product of Claviceps purpurea, a fungus that parasitizes ryegrass and other grains under certain environmental conditions. It is responsible for ergotism—called St. Anthony’s fire during the Middle Ages—an adverse reaction to ergot-contaminated food. Conditions i ..read more

91,799. This is the number of people who died in 2020 from a drug overdose. And more than 932,000 people have died since 1999. About 75% of the deaths in 2020 can be attributed to opioids. Synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, account for most opioid deaths. There was a time when individuals seeking heroin could obtain heroin. Not so much these days. Now, most illicit opiates contain fentanyl which is about 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. When someone unknowingly takes fentanyl, the difference in the potency is critical. A few milligrams of fentanyl is ..read more

One side will make you grow taller, and the other side… Well, actually, no. Either side will kill you. But nonetheless, the mushroom known as the Death Cap, Amanita phalloides, is ubiquitous and accounts for the majority of fatalities caused by mushroom poisoning. A. phalloides usually grows in summer and in autumn, but since it can be harvested and stored, poisoning may occur at any time of the year. Although they have a worldwide distribution, these fungi range from Eastern North America to the Pacific Coast within the United States and are found growing in forests under a tree or in a glade ..read more

Like miniature snow globes, small white berries hang in the balance. Mistletoe, evergreen trees, and poinsettias abound as decorations bring cheer and good tidings during the holiday season. But should we be worried if pieces of these plants find their way into the mouths of small children or the adults keeping watch? Viscum album (European mistletoe) and Phoradendron leucarpum/ P. flavescens (American mistletoe) hang in the door frame prompting a kiss between those caught in a romantic moment. A festive evergreen plant, mistletoe represents peace, love, and friendship. However, unless these ..read more