Poison contre poison Série-Collection : Thema : Histoires de poisons

Alain Lasfargues
2000 - 54 min - France

Although we know that poison can be poured into a rich mother-in-law's soup, we know little about its other uses.
Although, since the development of tests to detect arsenic by James Marsch, traditional poisoners have been out of work or in prison, the role of toxic substances has not been limited to eliminating rats. The greatest poisoners of the century are soldiers. They have replaced the arsenic of our grandmothers by neurotoxics which kill simply by contact. The French army's school for combating chemicals in Caen trains "depoisoners". From the laboratories of Johnson, the greatest producer in the world of insecticide, this documentary takes us to the anti-poison centre at the Fernand-Vidal hospital, where the doctors do a real job of detection to determine the composition of the products that have been accidentally ingested. Finally, paralysing curare is often used in surgical operations. Once upon a time it was the bearer of death, today poison can help to save lives.