CRIMINAL POISONING (Discussion Newsgroup)

Hi! This Mailing list has been started by Professor Anil Aggrawal, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India. This list is dedicated to criminal poisoning, its history, notable and historical poisoners, exotic poisons used throughout history, history and romance of poisons, new and old poisons, famous court cases related to historic poisoning cases, forensic aspects of poisoning, forensic toxicology etc.

The theme of this group is perhaps best described by the picture here, which shows Roman Emperor Nero (AD 37-68) and his cunning court poisoner Locusta, experimenting with poisons on a Roman slave. While the slave writhes in pain, both Nero and Locusta observe him intently for his signs and symptoms - completely oblivious of his suffering. Many important poisons were supposed to be discovered by this duo. These were subsequently used to kill their enemies surreptitiously. Nero's mother Agrippina was not far behind and even commissioned Locusta to poison her (Agrippina's) husband Emperor Claudius in 54 AD.

Crime writers often need a "perfect poison" in their stories. Well, if there is one, I don't know it. However if they are searching for these (as part of their story plots), they may find this group particularly interesting.

To read some interesting material about history of toxicology and criminal use of poisons, you may want to visit "Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Toxicology page" at

http://members.tripod.com/~Prof_Anil_Aggrawal/index.html

There are several other similar sites in which you might be interested. Please go to the following URL to access these;

http://www.geradts.com/anil/index.html

Please e-mail your questions to dr_anil@hotmail.com

Thanks and Regards

Professor Anil Aggrawal
Professor, Forensic Medicine
Maulana Azad Medical College
New Delhi-11002
India