The famous Lafarge affair which took place in Tulle (Corrèze, France) in 1840, has never ceased to interest the general public because some doubts have remained even after the pronunciation of the judgment. Another hypothesis than arsenicum poisoning has been formulated in 1980 by Professor P. Lepine who believes in a paratyphoid fever occuring after food poisoning. This assumption and the discovery of exceptional family documents in 2004 by Edouard de Lamaze, a distant cousin of Emma Pontier, the confidante of Marie Lafarge, sheds a new light on this mysterious affair.
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L'arsenic reste un poison d'actualité. Son utilisation depuis l'âge de bronze n'a jamais cessée. La toxicité à l'arsenic est un problème majeur de santé publique affectant de nombreux habitants à travers le monde. En effet, on estime que 150 millions de personnes seraient exposées à de l'eau contaminée par l'arsenic. Ces chiffres pourraient être revus à la hausse dans les années à venir car de nouvelles zones touchées sont régulièrement découvertes.
Dans les pays développés, il est simple de résoudre le problème en effectuant des contrôles réguliers de l'eau destinée à la consommation humaine afin de garantir sa sécurité sanitaire. Cependant dans les pays en voie de développement, il est extrêmement compliqué de résoudre rapidement le problème de l'eau contaminée comme on le voit au Bangladesh. En effet, avec des moyens limités, il est difficile de mettre en œuvre les solutions pour décontaminer sur une grande échelle l’eau provenant des puits existants. De plus, les populations locales ne comprennent pas forcement la gravité du problème et le danger que constitue la consommation de cette eau polluée en raison de la grande latence entre sa consommation et le développement de pathologies liées à celle-ci.
Afin qu'il y ait une mobilisation mondiale pour aider ces pays, il est important de prendre conscience qu'il s'agit là de la plus grande intoxication collective de l'histoire. Il serait judicieux qu'une organisation mondiale mène une grande campagne d'information sur l'arsenic. Pour le moment, aucun attentat terroriste islamique à l'arsine n'a été recensé. Cependant, il est important d'être prêt à tout moment afin de réagir face à cette potentielle menace. Du fait de la facilité de fabrication ainsi que de son faible coût, l'attentat à l'arme chimique peut voir le jour à n'importe quel moment. Par exemple, en mars 2016, un attentat islamiste à l'arme chimique a été déjoué au Maroc. En France, le plan Piratox, le plan Orsec et le plan blanc sont adaptés pour réagir au mieux à une telle situation. Cependant, le but primordial est d'éviter absolument tout type d'attentat. Malgré une récente loi antiterroriste, les massacres continuent. Pour contrer cela, nos politiques sont en pleine réflexion pour mettre en place une nouvelle loi anti-terroriste et ils ont lancé le débat. La France va t-elle prendre des mesures à l'image des américains avec le Patriot Act ou la guerre en Irak ?
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February 1982 · Revue d Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique
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A prospective study of acute poisonings during the period (2009-2015) in Cheguevara hospital Wilaya de Mostaganem. Ouel Hennia Chahrazed1, Bouabdelli Fatma2 ,Missoun fatiha2 ,Benhamimed Attafia2 ,Djebli Noureddine2. 1Depertement of biology, Faculty of nature and health, University of Abd Hamid Ibn Badis , Mostaganem, Algeria. 2 Laboratory of phototherapy Api pharmacognosy (LPAP). University of
... [Show full abstract] Abd Hamid Ibn Badis ,Mostaganem, Algeria. Fatiha.missoun@yahoo.fr ABSTRACT Background: Every year the emergencies of our hospitals recorded many intoxications linked to the bad use of products and foods. Symptoms vary according to the nature of toxic. The symptoms may be neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive. The consequences of such poisoning can go to Death. Methods: The objective of this study was to improve the quality and quantity of information collected by a retrospective study of patients admitted to resuscitation after a self-medication (accidental or intentional) and food poisoning from 2009 until 2015 and a prospective study during 03 months from January 2016 at the hospital of Mostaganem (UMC) to assess risks and identify actions to prevent serious intoxication and to better consider that prevention is still the best therapeutic method. Results: Results show that the fatal poisonings are steadily increasing and are deplored in daily practice. The higher it is food poisoning averaging over 7 years with (7% -35%) comes secondly chemical poisoning with an average of (5% -30%); and finally with the drug intoxication with (0% -33%). We found also according to the survey that voluntary drug poisoning is much higher than the accidental poisoning. Conclusion: The prevention and treatment of poisoning should merit high priority in the health care of Algerian population. A specific concern should be raised toward providing more laboratory and diagnostic facilities in hospitals in Algeria, and need for identifying unknown substance in the health care. Key words: Acute poisonings, Household Chemicals, prospective study, health care. View full-text August 2014
Food and Environment: Plausible Linkages with Food Safety and Its Potential Consequences in Public Health in Bangladesh
1*Anwar K Selim, 2M Latiful Bari, 3Rashed Chowdhury, 4 Lalita Bhattacharjee, 5Islam Khaleda, 6Azaher Ali M,7MA Mannan, 8C Rafiqul Ahasan,9M Ariful Hoque,10Begum Ayesha
1*Inst. of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN), 2Assoc. Prof. and Head, Food Lab, Centre for Advanced Research &
... [Show full abstract] Sciences (CARS), Dhaka Univ. (DU), 3Principal Scientist (Graduate Faculty), 'Pacific ENSO Applications Climate Center', Univ. of Hawaii Manoa, USA, 4Nutritionist, National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Program (NFPCSP), FAO, Dhaka, 5Prof. Inst. Nutrition & Food Sc., DU, 6Assoc. Prof., Health Economics, DU & PhD Fellow Oregon Univ., USA, 7National Nutrition Adviser, NFPCSP, FAO, Dhaka, 8Prof. Dept. of Microbiol, DU, 9Sr. Research Fell., CARS, DU, 10Asstt. Prof. Dept. Applied Food Sc., Nutr, Faculty Food Sc., Technol., Chittagong, Vet. & Animal Sc., Univ. (CVASU), Bangladesh
(1* Currently: a faculty at the AIMST Univ., Malaysia on early retirement from IPHN. General Secretary, Development of Socio-economic, Health and Environmental Research (DOSHER), Bangladesh, E-mail:kselim2256@yahoo.com)
Background & Objectives: Bangladesh-a small deltaic-land with world’s 8th-most largest population abreast is predisposed to various natural disasters and environmental degradation (polluted atmosphere/air, marine/water, land/soil/sludge). Accompanied by ground-water poisoning with arsenic, massive degradation in food-quality, reportedly, threaten country’s public health. Recently-forecasted El-Niño/La-Nina resulting from global warming may worsen this scenario more. Contrary to well-established phenomenon between environment and health, linkage between food and environment remains less-explored in Bangladesh despite its predictably-serious implications in public health. That is what this paper aims to expounds.
Materials & Methods: A conceptual framework has been constructed employing a thorough literature-search on related global issues over the past decade using several search engines/web-sites (Pub Med/Medline/Google/BMC-Pub Health; UN-CTAD/UN-EP/UN-habitat/US-EPA/FAO/WHO/MMWR/IFAD).This concept-paper schematically explains how plausible linkages between food & environment impact negatively on country’s public health, augmented by recent national-data, pictorial-series and our cross-sectional findings.
Results and Findings: Diagrammatically, inter-linked factors of food and environment have been discoursed on the vicious cycle (intrinsic/extrinsic pathways/modes) of malicious degradation in Bangladeshi food chain. This paper also describes the step-wise illegal means of food adulteration/intoxications: while harvesting (adding fertilizer/ pesticide), on growing fruits (tampering), in preparing food-stuff (adulteration/alteration), for preserving (mix formalin on raw-fish/meat/fruits/veg and while serving (sprinkling contaminated garnish/flavoring-agents). Apart from reported manipulation of food and environment arterially (to meet-up challenge of food-consumption) and arsenic-poisoning in food chain- our cross-sectional findings on low-level perception and high-level non-compliance on HACCP- principles (most small-scale food-industries) making the country’s existing food-safety program vulnerable. Finally, hospital data revealed miserable consequences of degraded food & environment linking with a wide-range of food/water-borne diseases (salmonellosis, shigellosis, cholera, etc.) &/or food-poisoning often being lethal. Further highly-contaminated street-vended foods sold in major urban cities/communities throw hundreds of consumers into potential public health risk.
Conclusions and Recommendations: Apart from global impact of El-Niño/ La-Nina on water, agriculture and food productions in Bangladesh, massive degradation in food-quality threatens its public health seriously largely due to man-made-catastrophic food adulteration/chemical-intoxications, compounded by ground-water pollution with high arsenic concentration entering into common food-chain. Recommendations are directed towards strengthening food-safety/security strategies by the Government of Bangladesh through a cost-effective sustainable system which demands direct UN-intervention through FAO’s on-going food safety program in Bangladesh, essentially. Read more January 2006 · Journal of toxicology. Clinical toxicology
Read more December 2012
Salmonella are the causative agents of the majority of food-borne bacterial poisonings and are responsible for more than 100 million infections of humans annually. In contrast to typhoid and paratyphoid fever, salmonellosis is frequent in the developed world. This is largely contributed by changes in the nutritional behavior resulting in eating more fruits and raw vegetables. Recently, it was
... [Show full abstract] discovered that the colonization of plants by Salmonella is a highly organized process. These results indicate that plants form part of the natural life cycle of Salmonella and open up new strategies to understand and combat bacterial diseases. Read more January 1985
In Japan, the incidence of gastrointestinal infections such as bacillary dysentery, and typhoid and paratyphoid fevers has decreased remarkably since the early 1960s. However, the incidence of bacterial food poisonings has not decreased greatly during the last twenty years (1, 2, 3). Moreover, the incidence of diarrheal diseases brought by overseas travellers to this country has recently tended
... [Show full abstract] to increase (4). Read more January 2006 · Acta Clinica Belgica
The famous Lafarge affair which took place in Tulle (Corrèze, France) in 1840, has never ceased to interest the general public because some doubts have remained even after the pronunciation of the judgment. Another hypothesis than arsenicum poisoning has been formulated in 1980 by Professor P. Lepine who believes in a paratyphoid fever occuring after food poisoning. This assumption and the
... [Show full abstract] discovery of exceptional family documents in 2004 by Edouard de Lamaze, a distant cousin of Emma Pontier, the confidante of Marie Lafarge, sheds a new light on this mysterious affair. Read more January 1978 · American Journal of Epidemiology
Read more November 1955 · Rivista dell'Istituto sieroterapico italiano
Read more January 2019 · Yakugaku zasshi journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
Overconsumption of Ginkgo biloba seeds induces food poisoning characterized by tonic-clonic convulsions and vomiting. The primary toxic component, 4′-O-methylpyridoxine (MPN), was purified from the seeds in 1985. This review includes the following aspects of ginkgo seed poisoning: 1) toxicity related to the content of MPN and MPN glucoside in G. biloba seeds; 2) the effect of MPN on vitamin B6
... [Show full abstract] analogs, including an increase in pyridoxal and pyridoxic acid and decrease in pyridoxal-5′-phosphate plasma concentrations; 3) case reports of ginkgo seed poisoning in Asia, North America, and Europe, and their effective treatment via vitamin B6 administration. Considering the increase in the use of G. biloba seeds, it is essential to raise global awareness of their potential toxicity. Read more Last Updated: 05 Jul 2022
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