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Fourteen people were mildly poisoned by a toxic substance that was applied to the keypad of an electronic lock of a synagogue south of Paris. Members of the Jewish community of Bonneuil-sur-Marne on Monday called rescue services to report a sudden strong burning sensation in their eyes and itchy rashes on their skin, Le Parisien reported. Some 25 firemen rushed to the synagogue, which is under police and military protection whenever it is open. They treated congregants who were poisoned and traced its source to the lock. Described as a nonlethal irritant, the substance found on the pad was sent...

A man has died of massive internal burns after mistakenly being served undiluted detergent, which was being stored in an empty bottle of white wine.The 49-year-old man died of internal burns after drinking cleaning fluid he thought was white wine in the city of Benicarló in the Spanish province of Castellón. Andrés Lorente was in bar Raconet, on Isabel de Villena square, for a Sunday afternoon drink on June 14th when he was served what he thought was a glass of white wine. In fact the liquid he was served was cleaning fluid that had been stored in an empty...

A "food source" sickened nearly 100 restaurant patrons in Philadelphia last month, but city and state health officials say Pennsylvania law bars them from disclosing what the food was or how it was contaminated. Philly.com reported Friday ( http://bit.ly/1HQbZYs ) that dozens of lawyers and law students became sick after a Feb. 27 feast at Joy Tsin Lau in the city's Chinatown. Some said they were bedridden and others had to seek medical attention after becoming sick, but the owner said her restaurant didn't cause it.

<p>London (CNN)An investigation is underway after a canine competitor died the day after taking part in Crufts, one of the world’s most prestigious dog shows. An autopsy indicates he was poisoned.</p> <p>Three-year-old Irish setter Thendara Satisfaction — known to his owners as Jagger — took second prize in his class at the event in Birmingham, central England, on Thursday.</p>

Poachers kill 300 Zimbabwe elephants with cyanide • Cyanide has been used to kill 300 elephants in Zimbabwe's biggest nature reserve - three times the original estimate - as new photos show the scale of the slaughter Poachers in Zimbabwe have killed more than 300 elephants and countless other safari animals by cyanide poisoning, The Telegraph has learned. The full extent of the devastation wreaked in Hwange, the country's largest national park, has been revealed by legitimate hunters who discovered what conservationists say is the worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years. Pictures taken by the hunters, which...

According to prosecutors, Michael Hoyt heard voices. The 44-year-old bartender at the Wetherington Golf & Country Club in West Chester, Ohio also frequently served House Speaker John Boehner. Hoyt had grown convinced that Boehner was frequently rude to him. He blamed the Speaker for the spread of Ebola to the United States. The voices in his head told Hoyt that John Boehner was the devil, and he planned to expose him to the world. So he hatched a plot. According to police, Hoyt had a detailed plan to slip poison into Boehner’s drink, shoot him with a Beretta .380...

It can be bought on the Internet in flavors like chocolate and bubble gum—and just a teaspoon could kill a child: The New York Times takes a look at liquid nicotine, the e-liquid used in e-cigarettes, which it describes as a "powerful neurotoxin ... far more dangerous than tobacco." And with good reason: Reports of accidental liquid nicotine poisonings rose 300% from 2012 to 1,351 cases last year, with 2014's figure expected to be double that. The victims, many children under the age of four, can experience vomiting and seizures after being exposed to even a modest amount orally or...

Marijuana can be deadly, according to German researchers who claim to have discovered the first deaths caused by cannabis. The researchers in Düsseldorf, North-Rhine Westphalia, have been investigating cannabis-related deaths since 2001 and performed post-mortem examinations on 15 people whose deaths were linked to the drug. […] Benno Hartung from the University Hospital in Düsseldorf said he and his colleagues performed autopsies and toxicological tests to rule out other causes of death such as liver disease and alcohol use. …

A Russian report quoted by Palestinian investigators on Friday said there was insufficient evidence to support the theory that Yasser Arafat died in 2004 by polonium poisoning. The findings were far weaker than those of a Swiss laboratory announced with fanfare on Wednesday by Arafat's widow and Qatar-based al-Jazeera television. Palestinians remained unfazed by the results - which dampen but don't definitely disprove the possibility of death by poisoning - and officials continue to blame arch foe Israel. Samples were extracted from Arafat's corpse last November by Swiss, French and Russian experts after an al-Jazeera documentary revealed unusually high amounts...

PLO official urges global probe into Arafat "killing" (Perfect timing for release as PLO-Israeli talks stalling?) A PLO official on Thursday called for an international inquiry into "the killing" of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a day after Swiss scientists said he probably died from polonium poisoning. RAMALLAH: A PLO official on Thursday called for an international inquiry into "the killing" of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a day after Swiss scientists said he probably died from polonium poisoning. "The (test) results proved Arafat was poisoned by polonium, and this substance is owned by states, not people, meaning that the crime was...

Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of polonium on clothing used by Yasser Arafat which "support the possibility" the veteran Palestinian leader was poisoned. In a report published by The Lancet at the weekend, the team provide scientific details to media statements made in 2012 that they had found polonium on Arafat's belongings. Arafat died in France on November 11 2004 at the age of 75, but doctors were unable to specify the cause of death. No autopsy was carried out at the time, in line with his widow's request. His remains were exhumed in November 2012 and...

At least 22 children have died and dozens more have fallen ill after eating lunch at a school in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.The poisoning occurred in the village of Dharmasati Gandaman, 80km (50 miles) north of the state capital, Patna. The free Mid-Day Meal Scheme aims to tackle hunger and boost attendance in schools, but suffers from poor hygiene. Angry parents joined protests against the deaths, setting at least four police vehicles on fire. An inquiry has begun and 200,000 rupees ($3,370) in compensation offered to the families of each of the dead. Twenty-eight sick children were...

Steve Neal, Chicago's premiere political columnist for decades, famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of history and political lore, for endlessly swapping stories with political junkies and for his books that ranged from a biography of Wendell Wilkie to the correspondence between Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman, died Wednesday at his Hinsdale home. He was 54 and had been hospitalized overnight this week at Northwestern Hospital for a heart problem, his family said. Hinsdale police said they responded to a “carbon monoxide alarm’’ Wednesday afternoon at the home. Mr. Neal was among the city's most savvy political analysts, but unlike many...

After reports arose that former PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s body will be exhumed for further testing, under the assumption that perhaps he was killed by Israel via radioactive poisoning, the New York Times has picked up right where their pro-Arafat slant left off seven and half years years ago. Writing the Times’ article explaining the poisoning theory, Rick Gladstone described Arafat as “the father figure of Palestinian nationalism.” A father figure? Really? Yet as Newsbusters has shown, this language is not far removed from the praise the Times was heaping on Arafat shortly after his death. In January 2005, the...

The unexpected death of conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart just got a whole lot more mysterious. Only two months after Breitbart’s passing, the coroner that investigated the cause of death may have succumbed to arsenic poisoning. Michael Cormier, 61, passed away on April 20, the Los Angeles Times reports this week. Although Cormier’s death is only being publicized now, the timing of actual passing actually came within hours of the release of the preliminary autopsy report of Breitbart. Commenting to the Times on the latest news, Lt. Alan Hamilton of the Los Angeles Police Department says that investigators have not ruled...

Hannah Overton was charged with capital murder, found guilty and handed down a life sentence. This week the 35-year-old was back in a Texas courthouse to try and get her capital murder conviction overturned and convince a judge she did not intentionally poison the four-year-old but that he did it to himself. The defense argued that Andrew had Pica an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive appetite. Overton and her husband told ABC's 20/20 that the boy would eat anything he could get his hands on. The day he collapsed in their home, Andrew was found in the pantry by...

An explosion on Monday rocked the suburban Atlanta home of a man known for his fight to keep chickens on his property, and emergency officials say a body was found inside. Marshals had been on the scene for about two hours trying to evict Andrew Wordes, who's known as the "Chicken Man," when the explosion happened around 12:45 p.m., said Antonio Johnson of the Fulton County marshal's office. Minutes before the explosion, Wordes told them to leave the property that was in foreclosure. Other than the body found inside the house, which officials did not immediately identify, no one was...

Food chain at risk of being poisoned by terrorist groups Food and drink sold in Britain is under a growing threat from terrorist groups which might try to poison supplies, the Government’s security advisers have warned. By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 9:44PM BST 04 Jun 2011 Manufacturers and retailers have been told that their sector is vulnerable to attacks by ideologically and politically motivated groups that may seek to cause widespread casualties and disruption by poisoning food supplies. The warning from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure [CPNI], which operates as part of the Security Service, comes as...

I mentioned the system called the WSPEEDI simulation system in passing when I wrote about SPEEDI data for the early period of the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident (March 11 onward). When Professor Kosako resigned from his post as PM special advisor in protest of the 20 millisievert/year radiation limit for school children, he called for the release of WSPEEDI, which can cover much wider area ("several thousand kilometers", according to Professor Kosako). Well well. The Ministry of Education very quietly put the WSPEEDI simulation data on their webpage for SPEEDI data list on May 10, without any fanfare, without...

Hospitals in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok have seen an influx of patients with a rare form of fish poisoning. Several people have died. The culprit is the fugu fish – a traditional and popular Japanese delicacy. The catch is you have to cook it very carefully because just one fish contains a poison capable of killing over 30 people. In Japan, only very experienced, specially trained cooks are allowed to dress fugu. Fugu fish are not usually found off Vladivostok, but the warm summer saw their numbers grow. Hungry anglers took it upon themselves to make what they thought...