Published in Chemistry World, 11 Aug 2009
Research into the non-fatal poisoning of Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko in 2004 has revealed the unexpected breakdown of the dioxin used to poison him, and prompted researchers to call for the development of new methods to spot the compound’s metabolites.
In what is the first published study of President Yushchenko’s apparent poisoning in 2004, toxicologists from Switzerland and the Ukraine show that – contrary to popular belief – the dioxin TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) is able to metabolise in the human body. The discovery suggests that development of methods to assess the dioxin’s metabolites would give scientists a better understanding of TCDD poisoning and possible therapies. […]
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