18 Nov 2019

Thallium - the poisoner's poison

From Elemental, 8:00 am on 18 November 2019

Thallium is most famous for some infamous poisoned family cases, and used to be used as rat poison.

It is highly toxic because it ‘looks’ like potassium to mammalian bodies.

Its appearance in the Agatha Christie novel ‘The Pale Horse’ solved a medical mystery, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 84 of Elemental.

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Photo: RNZ

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Professor Allan Blackman is at Auckland University of Technology.