/oss/taxonomy/term/1332/all en /oss/article/health-general-science/ricin-emerges-shadows-again <p>Ricin is in the news because this potentially potent poison was supposedly detected in a letter addressed to President Trump. For me, this brings back memories of my last visit to London when I made a point of going to Waterloo station. I wasn’t interested in taking a train, I just wanted to stand at the bus stop right in front of the station. I wanted to see with my own eyes the famous spot where one of the most ingenious chemical crimes in history was perpetrated.</p> Wed, 23 Sep 2020 18:49:07 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8421 at /oss /oss/article/food-health-history-toxicity/castor-bean-oil-plays-growing-role-chocolate-manufacture <p>I think the first medicine I ever heard of was “Ricinus,” a liquidy concoction with which my mother plied me when she suspected I was constipated. I can’t imagine why as a child I would have had such a problem, since our diet in Hungary back then included generous doses of goose fat that should have allowed everything to slide through at a pretty regular pace.</p> Thu, 12 Dec 2013 18:25:19 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2044 at /oss