Question:easy
Which poison can be detected in the skeleton even after the body has undergone emaciation or has been burnt for a long time?
Which poison can be detected in the skeleton even after the body has undergone emaciation or has been burnt for a long time?
Show Hint
This metalloid lodges in hair, nails and bone and survives cremation.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Lead
- Arsenic
- Mercury
- Cadmium
Show Solution
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Forensic-pearl angle: the examiner is testing where a poison hides long after death.
Arsenic is the classic answer because it locks into keratin and mineralised tissue. It is laid down in hair (giving the Mees' lines in chronic poisoning), in nails and crucially in bone. Once it is in the skeleton it stays there, so a forensic toxicologist can still recover it from emaciated, decomposed, exhumed or even cremated remains. This durability is exactly why arsenic was historically the poisoner's choice and why analysis of bones and hair clinches the diagnosis.
The other metals do not share this skeletal persistence to the same exam-relevant degree. Mercury and cadmium concentrate mainly in the kidneys and soft tissue, which are lost on burning. Lead does enter bone, but the textbook fact tested here, detection in burnt or skeletonised bodies, is attached to arsenic.
So pick arsenic.
Ref: Reddy, The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.
Arsenic is the classic answer because it locks into keratin and mineralised tissue. It is laid down in hair (giving the Mees' lines in chronic poisoning), in nails and crucially in bone. Once it is in the skeleton it stays there, so a forensic toxicologist can still recover it from emaciated, decomposed, exhumed or even cremated remains. This durability is exactly why arsenic was historically the poisoner's choice and why analysis of bones and hair clinches the diagnosis.
The other metals do not share this skeletal persistence to the same exam-relevant degree. Mercury and cadmium concentrate mainly in the kidneys and soft tissue, which are lost on burning. Lead does enter bone, but the textbook fact tested here, detection in burnt or skeletonised bodies, is attached to arsenic.
So pick arsenic.
Ref: Reddy, The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.
Was this answer helpful?
0
