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Socrates is charged with religious heresy and is executed via hemlock poisoning.
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"All substances are poisons. There is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy."
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Publication of his book "Traite des Poisons," which described the symptoms of poisons.
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Wrote "Treatise on Poisons" in 1829 and invented a poisonous harpoon for whale hunting.
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As a result of the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906, the Food and Drug Administration was created, meant to regulate these markets and their products.
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Hundreds of African-American workers died from acute silicosis while digging a tunnel for a hydroelectric project for Union Carbide. Workers mined silica and were not given the proper masks or breathing equipment, despite management wearing such equipment during their inspections. The exposure to silica dust led to many workers developing silicosis, killing them as quickly as within a year.
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In 1938 scientist Albert Hofmann synthesized Lysergic acid (LSD) in modern-day Novartis Pharmaceuticals' Sandoz Laboratory. In 1943, Hofmann tested LSD on himself.
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The first Poison Control Center opened in Chicago in 1953, with the second one opening a year later at Duke University, North Carolina.
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The International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) was founded in Brussels, Belgium. IUTOX's mission is "to foster international scientific cooperation among toxicologists, promote the global acquisition, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge in the world of science of toxicology, and ensure the continued training and development of toxicologists worldwide."
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In September of 1982, 7 people from the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol laced with potassium cyanide, the result of product tampering.
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A few months after the Tylenol incidents, The US Congress passed the "Tylenol Bill," which made it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products.
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Members of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo dropped five bags of liquid sarin in the Tokyo Subway during rush hour, releasing a deadly nerve gas. The incident left 12 dead and 6,000 injured, many of whom still suffer effects from the attack.
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Anthrax was found in US Congressional offices. Letters containing anthrax spores were also mailed to news media offices and the offices of 2 Democratic US Senators. The incident killed 5 people and infected 17.
