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Toxic History!

Toxic History!

By: Adam Blumenberg
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About this listen

 Toxic History! is a narrative medicine lecture series where medical experts tell you stories from the history of poison. Human beings have known about poison – substances that harm and even kill– for thousands of years. Poisons have been seen as mysterious, supernatural, and enigmatic. What are these plants, mixtures, and elements with such powerful properties? It is only in the past century that science has begun to demystify these chemicals and explain how they work. Still, the impact they have on the world – from cultish mass suicides to chemical attacks to a single case of homicide – can be profound. Toxic History! explores the impact on society, culture, and science behind poisonous events in history.Adam Blumenberg 2022 Hygiene & Healthy Living Physical Illness & Disease World
Episodes
  • Do Unto Myself as I would Do Unto Others

    Do Unto Myself as I would Do Unto Others
    Jan 8 2026

    There is a long, perhaps to be forgotten, history of clinicians performing observational n=1 studies upon themselves to “prove” their safety and efficacy of the proposed therapy. The talk is to describe toxicology-related examples of this now discouraged practice.
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    23 mins
  • The FDA and the Homeopathy Loophole

    The FDA and the Homeopathy Loophole
    Nov 27 2025

    The episode traces how the FDA evolved from a modest watchdog born of early 20th-century drug tragedies into a powerful regulatory agency, highlighting key reforms that reshaped American medicine. It then unpacks the long-standing “homeopathy loophole,” explaining how a century-old provision allowed homeopathic remedies to bypass modern scientific standards and why that exemption still fuels debate today.
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    49 mins
  • Toxic Murderer Dr William Palmer

    Toxic Murderer Dr William Palmer
    Oct 27 2025

    Dr. William Palmer, surgeon, gambler, toxic murderer. The historical account of Dr Palmer and the events that made him a notorious serial killer.
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    10 mins
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