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Toxicology

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Rebecca Walker
Forensic Toxicology
CRJ 311
Dawn George
4/22/2013

History Forensic science is defined as the application of science to the law. There are different types of forensic science, and each plays an integral part in the criminal justice system. Forensic biology usually involved DNA testing and its results. Forensic anthropologists examine human remains that have become skeletons in an attempt to determine how long the remains have been in a location and to try to determine a possible cause of death. Forensic toxicology falls into the category of forensic chemistry. Forensic toxicologists study toxins, drugs, poisons, alcohol, and other things found in the blood or tissues of crime victims or perpetrators. Forensic …show more content…

Landsteiner was the first scientist to suggest that these blood types could someday be used to identify the father of a child (Jewish Virtual Library, 2012). Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the blood types. In 1914, the first mass spectrometer was built by J.J. Thomson (Crime ZZZ, 2012). This machine, once perfected, would become one of the main ways modern toxicologists identify poisons. Frank Lundquist, a scientist from Denmark, developed the acid phosphatase test to identify areas where semen may be present. This test reacts to enzymes present in semen (Crime ZZZ, 2012). It is clear that scientists in the early 20th century realized that toxicology and blood fluids could be used to identify or rule out suspects. However, no methods had been developed yet to utilize these results in an effective and widespread way. All of that would change rapidly in the second half of the 20th century. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick identified the structure of DNA (Crime ZZZ, 2012). Of course, this would benefit science and police in ways that these two men likely could not fathom at the time. In 1954, R.F. Borkstein invented the first Breathalyzer test to be used in the field to test suspects suspected of driving under the influence (Crime ZZZ, 2012). Borkstein, interestingly, was not a scientist, but rather a police captain who was frustrated with not

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