Milk? Sugar? Sodium azide?

According to a number of sources (including the Boston Herald and the New York Times), 6 people were sickened by drinking coffee laced with sodium azide at a lab at Harvard Medical School. Holy cow!

The press reports mention that (one of?) the victims feels that this wasn't an accident. I think it's interesting that one person passed out, but others reported low blood pressure and dizziness. My understanding of sodium azide is that it can be lethal, so it must have been a relatively low dose. (Thank God for small favors, huh?)

I don't really know what to say about this, other than you have to be kind of a twisted individual to think this is a good solution to any sort of interpersonal problem you might be having.

(Credit for photo from Wikimedia.)

UPDATE: Changed a few words here and there for clarity.

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11 Responses to “Milk? Sugar? Sodium azide?”

1. 1
   mitch @ October 26, 2009 at 11:48 am

   Someone at Harvard medical has a bone to pick.

   Reply
   • 1.1
     Chemjobber @ October 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm

     No kidding, huh?

     Reply
     • …
       mitch @ October 26, 2009 at 8:12 pm

       You're suppose to make a witty pun within a pun comment to keep it going.

       Reply
       • …
         azmanam @ October 27, 2009 at 3:17 am

         very Reddit of you.

         Reply
   • 1.2
     back to the daily grind @ October 27, 2009 at 5:40 am

     That person's going to have a latte problems.

     Reply
     • …
       espresso yourself @ October 27, 2009 at 5:43 am

       We'll catch this guy by any beans necessary

       Reply
       • …
         hands off my finkelstein @ October 27, 2009 at 8:01 am

         all kidding azide, people need to stop hurting each other in lab!

         Reply
2. 2
   azmanam @ October 26, 2009 at 11:52 am

   Yeah, I saw that on the news this morning. Not a good month for lab incidents, is it?

   Interestingly, this MSDS says to induce vomiting immediately, and this MSDS says not to induce vomiting.

   I typically trust JT Baker's MSDSs, but its interesting to see blatantly different first aid measures for the same chemical.

   Reply
   • 2.1
     paul viz @ October 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm

     so what method did the investigating chemist / toxicologist use to identify the sodium azide for proof of identity (spectra?)

     Reply
     • …
       analyitcal @ October 30, 2009 at 10:27 pm

       One of the method to determine sodium azide in chemical laboratory or food testing laboratory is the ion chromatography

       Reply
3. 3
   ulfsaar @ November 11, 2009 at 2:24 am

   haaaaa!
   the word in the picture is 叠氮钠?

   Reply