NATS 1575 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Forensic Toxicology, Blood Alcohol Content, Toxicology

• School: York University
• Department: Natural Science
• Course: NATS 1575
• Professor: Rajeshwari Iyer

Document Summary

Toxicologists are charged with the responsibility for detecting and identifying the presence of drugs and poisons in body fluids, tissues, and organs. Toxicologists not only work in crime laboratories and medical examiners" offices, but may also reach into hospital laboratories and health facilities to identify a drug overdose or monitor the intake of drugs. A major branch of forensic toxicology deals with the measurement of alcohol in the body for matters that pertain to violations of criminal law. The analysis of alcohol exemplifies the primary objective of forensic toxicology the detection and isolation of drugs in the body for the purpose of determining their influence on human behavior. *alcohol, or ethyl alcohol, is a colorless liquid normally diluted with water and consumed as a beverage. *like any depressant, alcohol principally effects the central nervous system, particularly the brain. Then the alcohol concentration slowly decreases until a zero level is again reached.