Eating Arsenic

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 479, 8 October 1928, Page 7

Eating Arsenic

Everyone Doing It

LIFE DOSE WOULD KILL 15 MEN

Have you ever taken arsenic? Almost every person would give an emphatic “No” to this question, but day after day the average Sydney citizen takes arsenic in some form or other, says the Sydney "Sun.” If it is not in beer, it is in food, and although it is tasteless and extremely minute in quantity a man who lives to 60 years of age will certainly have absorbed 31 grains of arsenic—enough to kill 15 men taken in single doses. However, there is no need to worry. The poison is so minute in many foods and drinks, that it is indistinguishable and not worth a moment’s thought. Furthermore, it actually does you more good than harm. A glance at the Pure Food regulations shows that there are many foods in which arsenic is contained. For instance, custard powder will probably have a hundredth part of a | grain of arsenic in every pound. The ; same applies to cream of tartar, bak- ! ing powder, gelatine, sauces and ! pickles. But who would dream of eating a pound of custard powder? To kill yourself by eating custard powder you would have to eat 2001 b. Arsenic In Beer Then there is arsenic in beer and ale. In every gallon there is a hundredth part of a grain of arsenic. Two hundred gallons would be necessary to yield a fatal dose. Many would murmur when told of this, “Oh, what a glorious death!” Some years ago in England people were actually poisoned by arsenic in beer. There was an epidemic of arsenical poisoning in a certain locality, and eventually it was traced to the beer. Investigations showed rhat the beer contained glucosa—sugar starch. This starch was heated by sulphuric acid, which in turn was heated by coal pyrites, which contains arsenic. By some means the arsenic was transferred right through the heating operations to the beer. Even a glass of water is not free of arsenic. Of course, some water does not contain the poison. It depends entirely on the pipe through which it comes, but the arsenic in this liquid is so minute that it could not be found by an analyst. Still, it is there. Fish also contains arsenic. There are certain varieties, however, which have the poison concealed in greater quantities in the flesh than others, but even then it is not harmful. Fat Men's Safety Arsenic is frequently taken by people in medicines, but only ihe doctors and the chemists are aware of it. In this case also, the quantity is extremely minute, and aids the patient

back to health. Arsenic is always contained in medicine prescribed for persons with weak hearts.

But fat men can rejoice. Two grains of arsenic would kill an ordinary man, but a person weighing anout 15 or 16 stone would probably take two grains, and although he would be violently ill, he would not die; that is, of course, everything else being equal. Arsenic is absorbed by the body, and, therefore, there would be a greater amount of blood and flesh to absorb the arsenic in a fat man.