toxic substance is found in victims who ate cake in Torres

This Friday (27), the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes Hospital, where the survivors of the possible poisoned cake are hospitalized, released the preliminary laboratory analyzes of the victims of the sweet eaten at a family gathering in the city of Torres, in Rio Grande do Sul. The tests confirmed the existence of Arsenic in the blood of one of the victims and in the two survivors who remain hospitalized in the health unit.

The extremely toxic chemical substance with lethal potential was observed in the blood of the person responsible for preparing the cake and her grandnephew, and was also found in the body of the victim Neuza Denise Silva dos Anjos. According to a medical bulletin issued by the health institution, the aunt and her grandnephew remain hospitalized and, at the moment, are considered “clinically stable” patients.

To date, there is no information about the presence of the chemical element in the bodies of the other two victims, Maida Berenice Flores da Silva and Tatiana Denize Silva dos Santos.

Understand what Arsenic is

Arsenic is the thirty-third element of the periodic table, represented by the acronym “As”, it is considered a semimetal and can be found in different compositions depending on its structure, and can be an organic or inorganic substance.

_{Chemical Element Symbol Arsenic, number 33 on the periodic table (Photo: reproduction/Instagram/@toxicdetoxeducation)}

Arsenic in its organic composition has less harmful potential and can be easily eliminated by our body, being found in seafood, for example. Its inorganic version, Arsenic Trioxide, popularly known as Arsenic, is an extremely toxic chemical element and one of the five most lethal on the periodic table, along with Lead, Thallium, Antimony and Mercury.

The two faces of Arsenium

Inorganic arsenic, at high exposures, has great lethal potential. Often used in agrochemistry as defensive pesticides — herbicides, fungicides and insecticides — the semimetal is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be one of the 10 chemical substances of extreme concern in matters of public health. An individual exposed to the chemical can suffer from food poisoning, allergic reactions, develop cancer or even die, as occurred with the victims of the cake eaten in the city of Rio Grande do Sul.

In an interview with G1, university professor and toxicologist at the Federal University of Santa Maria, André Valle de Bairros, stated that the element, as it has no smell or taste, becomes even more dangerous. According to the professor, exposure to just 100mg of the chemical would already be considered potentially lethal for an adult. A curiosity about the substance is that, despite its high toxicity, it is frequently used in the treatment of cancer patients, under the pharmaceutical name Trisenox.

Featured photo: cake (Reproduction/Instagram/@helen.meninaboleira)