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From: mpage@panix.com (Madeleine Page)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Toxic Lady Update
Date: 13 Apr 1996 12:03:59 -0400

Ed Zotti of _Straight Dope_ fame/infamy (not sure of the status of his voracity), was just interviewed on CBC radio, where he gave an update on the Toxic Lady case.

His overview of the case was as Camilla Cracchiolo reports it in her Toxic Lady FAQ, though he added two details she does not:

• the autopsy on Gloria Ramirez was conducted by people in space suits
• the nurse and first affected physician noted "strange white crystals"

  in Ramirez' blood sample

On with Zotti's tale.

He has been in touch with the Forensic Science Centre in Livermore, who have developed a tentative theory as to why the incident occurred. The following is from my notes taken during the broadcast: I emphasize that I do not know enough about blood chemistry to assess its likelihood.

Apparently blood tests conducted during the autopsy showed a high level of DMSO2 in Ramirez' blood. This byproduct of the breakdown of DMSO is also used as an industrial solvent and is apparently used with some frequency as an unprescribed pain reliever, especially by cancer patients (which Ramirez was). It is supposed to reduce muscle and joint pain. Ramirez' skin was noted to have "an oily sheen" on admission, and the FSC suggest that she may have rubbed large amounts of the solvent into her skin to ease the pain of her terminal cancer.

Here's where the story gets extremely speculative. They hypothesise that the DMSO2 was somehow converted to DMSO4, a highly toxic nerve gas, in Ramirez' body. While they acknowledge that they are unsure about how this conversion took place, they speculate that it might have been triggered by the oxygen given Ramirez in the ambulance en route to the hospital, or as a result of defibrillation, or because of the combination of drugs injected in the ER.

Zotti closed by noting that the FSC could not prove this theory, and that no further work is being done on the case.

Madeleine "Ian? Camilla? Comments on the likelihood of this theory being true?" Page