NCIS science

I was in the gym the other day and watched an episode of NCIS when I couldn't find anything else on (why are those "How Stuff is Made" shows so popular on the Science channel? I don't care how Oreos are mass-produced.) It actually was kind of interesting because some guy got poisoned by thallium (atomic number 81, right next to lead on the lower right) by smoking his cigars which were laced with it. According to Theodore Gray's book The Elements (a must-have for amateur chemistry lovers), this is the first really toxic element on the table after arsenic, atomic number 33. And like arsenic, it's a popular poisoning agent and one much harder to diagnose. It was a popular additive in rat poisons and insecticides at one time but not so much anymore.

I think the poisoner on the show used a radioactive isotope of thallium as I remember them talking about alpha particles. This is how they believe the Soviet dissident Litivenko* was killed. As this was a TV show though and the victim was a love interest for one of the characters, he looked much better than poor Litvinenko did at the end and he didn't vomit profusely and lose his hair.

The doctor used a drug called Prussian Blue to treat it. I looked it up and it's a real thing--which was a nice surprise as I only knew the name previously as belonging to a freaky teen sister musical act that sang white power ditties (just when I thought my least favorite genre was Christian rock.)  It works by combining with thallium-and radiocesium-in the intestines. It's chemical name is Ferric hexacyanoferrate. It was originally used as a pigment in oil painting, hence the name.

I wonder if the people behind the Nazi girl group realized they are named for a drug that makes you shit blue radioactive waste.

*Well, another Wiki article says that it was Polonium that killed him. Decided to Google. The Daily Mail asserts that it was indeed Thallium. Good reminder to double-check anything I read on Wikipedia.