Tox-Trivia Question Set 1
1. This popular author of detective fiction used poison
to dispatch more than 30 victims in the course of 66 novels had developed
her appreciation and knowledge of toxicology while serving as a hospital
pharmacy dispenser during World War I. Who is the author? 2. Name the field position played with the highest number of former or current baseball players whose cause of death was attributed to poisoning. 3. Time Magazine, April 3, 1995 declared this individual to be the "Prophet of Poison." 4. Name the Japanese cult movie star who vanquished the toxic "Smog Monster" who had a bad habit of feeding from smoke stacks and spreading toxic gases all over Tokyo? 5. One of the world's earliest recorded toxicological
disasters occurred in A.D.79 when a volcano unexpectedly erupted releasing
poisonous gases which killed thousands of people. Where did this natural
disaster take place? 6. Excessive amounts of irradiation can have toxic consequences;
who was the first person known to have died from radiation "poisoning?"
7. In 1962, an authoress published a popular and now famous
literary work which detailed the effects of toxic chemicals, like DDT,
on the world's environment and in particular their impact on the food
chain. Who was the author and the title of her work? 8. In 1980, this group was officially founded to support
the active voluntary euthanasia of the terminally ill; often the use
of a poison is recommended by the organization as the means to this
end. What is this group? 9. In the 1960's the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) concocted a plan to poison Cuba's Fidel Castro. How was this going
carried out? 10. If one was playing the game Scrabble and spelled the
word "POISON", with no bonus-letter scores, how many points would one
receive? 11. The actor John Belushi allegedly bought two drugs off
a Hollywood dealer shortly before he was found fatally overdosed on
March 5, 1982. Were the drugs ever identified? If so, what were they?
12. The mystery authoress, Agatha Christie, described this
tasteless, odorless white powder, poorly soluble in cold water but extremely
well-suited to be dissolved in hot cocoa, tea or milk and where 20 to
60 times the"lethal" dose in as little as two teaspoonsful of a drink
will remain undetectable for the unsuspecting victim. Identify the poison. 13. Just after July 3, 1863, many trees around this small
Pennsylvania town began dying from lead poisoning due to the large number
of leaded foreign bodies embedded in the wood. Name the town. 14. In 1992, the L.A. Gear company began production of
high-tech sneakers with colored lights that flashed when the heels hit
the ground! Some states considered these shoes a potential pollution
hazard when disposed because of what toxic material in the lighting
mechanism? 15. The horn of a Unicorn was believed during ancient times
to bring the bearer "protection" against poisoning. What animal was
most likely to provide the ivory for this protection? 16. You are on your long awaited vacation to France; you
have been given as a gift by your hosts a bushel of "wild" mushrooms
along with a recipe for making great crepes with them. Before you heat
up your omelet pan isn't there someone who you can consult about "danger
de mort?" 17. In the movie THE NET (1995) Sandra Bullock plays the
lead character who is a computer "wonk" and whose former boyfriend was
summarily murdered when he came too close to uncovering a nefarious
plot unfolding around Bullock while trying to help her. Remember how
this character meet his demise? 18. In the movie "Black Widow" (1985) co-starring Debra
Winger and Theresa Russell, a serial killer (played by Russell) kills
off one by one her wealthy husbands to collect on their insurance policies.
The methods she used to murder them were supposed to defy detection.
How were these toxic murders carried out? 19. Who was alledged to have consumed the following on
a daily basis: "44 cigarettes, three cups of coffee, two glasses of
wine, one beer, one marijuana joint, Tylenol PM, two morphine pills,
12 balloons of nitrous oxide and three `Leary biscuits'- a cheese-soaked
marijuana bud on a Ritz cracker." 20. Name the country where police have been given permission
to use poisonous snakes against rioters? 21. What venomous animal has the slowest metabolism of
any known invertebrate? 22. In Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, the wolves who
reared Mowgli called themselves the "Free People". Who did they call
the "Poison People"? 23. "Contaminated Acetaminophen Kills at Least 30 Children
in Haiti" read the page 4 New York Times headline on June 27, 1996.
What happened? 24. Identify the first bacterial toxin approved by the
FDA to be used as a medicine. 25. In April, 1996, three cases of unusual food borne poisoning
were reported in San Diego, California which was attributed to the consumption
of a food product imported by a Japanese traveler who had failed to
declare the item through U.S. customs. What happened? |