King George's Madness Linked to Arsenic

[tocqueville]

By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
1 hour, 28 minutes ago

LONDON - Scientists have found high levels of arsenic in the hair of King George III and say the deadly poison may be to blame for the bouts of apparent madness he suffered.

In 1969, researchers proposed the strange behavior of the monarch who reigned during the American Revolution resulted from a rare hereditary blood disorder called porphyria.

However, a study this week in The Lancet medical journal found high concentrations of arsenic in the king's hair and contends the severity and duration of his episodes of illness may have been caused by the toxic

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&e=1&u=/ap/20050722/ap_on_sc/mad_king_george

[CatWoman]

1. Didn't people freely ingest arsenic during that time?

I recall reading that women ate it in order to keep their complexion pasty white.

[tocqueville]

4. They suggest it had to do with antimony

but ingestion of heavy metals (and other compounds) cannot be excluded as you point out...

Today you get all that stuff for frre in your drinking water and food

Isn't progress fantastic ?

[kohodog]

2. Does Shrub drink lots of water?

He did reduce arsenic standards in drinking water after all!

[tocqueville]

5. I recall they had a lead problem at the WH

[jim3775]

3. All of that pewter dishware they drank from and ate off of...

probably didn't help much.

[wurzel]

6. I thought this thread was about George Bush.

[dweller]

7. different white powder....

but i thought so too.

dp

[DemonFighterLives]

8. Nice to hear about this

It was just announced today that my area of Mpls is possibly polluted with arsenic from some old plant. I don't even know the details, but was wondering where all of dubby's arsenic was.

Worse than Koolaid!
:silly: