Forensic Science Polls

Our Communities have encouraged participation in forensic polls in the following Areas. Click below to get access to these polls:

 

Forensic Toxicology Procedures - Collecting Toxin Samples From Corpses

Source: Fabiola Castillo Expert Page

When somebody is poisoned to death, a forensic medical examiner/toxicologist must undergo the hard job of determining what the poison was that killed the victim.

The reason that poisons are very popular is because they can be hidden. Toxic substances very rarely leave clues visible to the naked eye. Therefore finding a toxin is a difficult task that requires several specialized tests and involves a variety of bodily fluids and tissues.

The best hiding places for these toxins are places where chemicals enter the body, where chemicals congregate within the body, and along the thoroughfares of elimination. Therefore stomach contents, blood, and tissues surrounding needle injection sites may contain high doses of the toxic material. Analyses of brain, liver, and other tissues can disclose to the medical examiner where a drug or its metabolites accumulated. Finally, a urinalysis can be indicative of where the toxic substance and its products of metabolism are concentrated for final elimination. Here is a list of potential "hiding" places for illegal toxic substances:

Blood: Blood is perhaps the forensic toxicologist's most useful tool for finding toxins. With present day toxicological procedures, one can find essentially any drug and its major products in the blood. A blood exam tells the toxicologist what was transpiring in the body at the time of death. Concentrations of medications and drugs within the blood are proportional with the levels of intoxication and with levels that can potentially kill a person.

Stomach contents: Hospitals normally "pump" the stomach contents of survivors of drug overdoses by way of a gastric tube that is inserted through the nostril and into the stomach. Once the contents are extracted from the stomach, they are washed to remove any stomach acids and tested for the presence of drugs or poisons. During an autopsy, forensic medical examiners test the stomach contents in the same manner. Getting stomach contents is crucial where criminal investigators suspect poisoning or drug overdose. Concentrations of any drugs found in the stomach are not necessarily proportional with their levels in the blood and thus their effects on an individual.

Urine: A urinalysis is commonplace for workplace drug testing. It can also be useful during an autopsy. Since the kidneys serve as a major depot for the body's drug and toxin elimination routes, forensic medical examiners/toxicologists can many times find such toxic substances in greater concentrations in the urine. However, the relation between urine concentration of a drug and its effects in the body lacks proportion. This means that the urine level may disclose that the toxic substance had been in the blood at some earlier time. It does not determine whether the drug was exhibiting any effect on the person at the time it was collected.

Hair: Hair has the unique ability of providing an intoxication timeline for many toxic substances including lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals.
Vitreous humor: Within the cavity of the eyeball, there is a liquid called vitreous humor. This liquid does not putrefy easily like the other tissues of the body. In severely decomposed bodies, this fluid may be what is left of a body that can be tested. Concentration levels of drugs within the vitreous humor may lag behind the drug concentration levels found in blood by about 1 to 2 hours. Therefore, testing the vitreous humor reveals the concentration of a toxic substance in the blood 1 to 2 hours prior.

Liver: The liver functions to metabolize (breakdown) drugs and toxins. Testing the liver and the bile that it produces many times discloses the presence of a drug or its metabolites, the products of drug metabolism. Forensic investigators can measure drug concentrations in the liver since many drugs, especially opiates, can be found in the liver and bile, even when blood tests yield no presence of drugs. The liver may show drug concentration during the hours prior to death, and the bile may tell what drugs were present in the system during the past three to four days. However, neither test is accurate.

Insects: Forensic scientists may test insects that eat up dead bodies for drugs in the event of severely decomposed bodies. Since particular drugs tend to reside in the tissues of these bugs, they may provide information about whether a drug was present in the victim.
These locations are the most common locations for finding evidence of drugs or other toxic materials in the event of a suspected homicide.

Fabiola Castillo is an online marketer for the website NinjaCOPS SuperStore. This virtual store specializes in crime prevention tools where you can buy the cheap stun guns, kubaton keychains, hidden video spy surveillance cameras, nunchaku training videos, civilian Tasers, expandable steel batons, and many other personal safety products.

OTHER USEFUL LINKS:

Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology

Handbook of Forensic Toxicology for Medical Examiners (Practical Aspects of Criminal & Forensic Investigations)

SciEd Introduction to Toxicology Kit

Postmortem Toxicology of Abused Drugs

TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network

TRACE is an international NGO that aims to promote the use of forensic science in biodiversity conservation and the investigation of wildlife crime.

The TRACE network brings together forensic scientists and enforcement agencies in order to exchange information on the latest challenges facing wildlife law enforcement and modern techniques for tackling them.

Contact Trace Network
By email
info@tracenetwork.org

By phone
+44 (0)20 7870 7704
Skype ID: tracenetwork.org

By post
Registered office:
121 High Street, Bangor, LL57 2UW, UK

Visit website:
http://portal.tracenetwork.org/

Other Wildlife Forensic Useful Links :

Animal Investigators: How the World's First Wildlife Forensics Lab Is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species 

Forensic Science in Wildlife Investigations (International Forensic Science and Investigation) 

Using Forensics: Wildlife Crime Scene! 

The Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crimes Against Nature 

Wildlife Ecotoxicology: Forensic Approaches (Emerging Topics in Ecotoxicology) 

 

Digital Forensics Examination India

We at IFO offer the following services in the field of Digital Forensic Investigations:

Mobile Phones

Using specialist extraction software it is also possible to recover deleted data from some mobile phones. Live and deleted data such as images, videos and audio files can also be recovered from memory cards. Recovery of stored data from handsets, memory cards, etc. Data includes text messages, call register, audio and video files, photos and the user’s contact list.

Computer Forensics

Examinations of computer hard-drives and other storage media to assist in criminal and fraud investigation

Forensic Video Analysis

We have advanced forensic video analysis and interpretation.

Forensic Audio Analysis

Noisy, muffled, incoherent recordings may contain vital evidence in both civil and criminal investigations. Cogent experts are able to assist in recovering sound recordings from any recording device we provide audio enhancement/clarification services together.

Preservation of Data

In all aspects of our Digital Forensics work our team of experts ensures that critical data is not lost, changed or corrupted and that the appropriate procedures are followed to ensure that any resultant evidence is admissible in court.

© Ifo Forensic Services

For more Information contact
Call:011-26320016
Mobile:09819288253/09871410821

VISIT IFO FORENSIC WEBSITE: www.ifsr.in

 CYBER FORENSIC TOOLS AND RESOURCES:

Cyber Forensics: A Field Manual for Collecting, Examining, and Preserving Evidence of Computer Crimes, Second Edition (Information Security) 

Fraud Auditing and Forensic Accounting 

Computer Forensics and Cyber Crime: An Introduction (2nd Edition) 

Cyber Forensics: A Field Manual for Collecting, Examining, and Preserving Evidence of Computer Crimes 

Computer Forensics For Dummies

CD and DVD Forensics 

Visualization for Computer Security: 5th International Workshop, VizSec 2008, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 15, 2008, Proceedings

Scene of the Cybercrime: Computer Forensics Handbook

Stealing the Network: How to Own an Identity