Suicidal Poisoning
Methiocarb is a plant protection agent and while suicide with these type of toxins is rare, there is one case reported of a suicide with methiocarb. An 80 year old woman in Germany killed herself by drinking a bottle of Mesurol. The red/pink fluid was on her cloths, face and hands (probably because of the vomiting) and in the gastrointestinal tract as in the respiratory tract. The toxicological examination showed that the methiocarb uptake wasn’t completed and the concentration of methiocarb and its metabolite in the urine was low. This is due to the short duration of exposure. Elevated concentration of methiocarb may be the result from post-mortem uptake, but it could also be the post-mortem redistribution of methiocarb and metabolites from the gastrointestinal tract. The conclusion of the toxicological examination was death by acute poisoning of methiocarb.
The amount of methiocarb in the stomach is calculated to compare it with the LD50 of rats. The amount of methiocarb is estimated to have been 6.1 gram (by a stomach volume of 1L). The weight of this woman was 53 kg. That would make 115 mg/kg bw. When compared to the LD50 for rats, which is 30 mg/kg, it is reasonable to say that this woman died of poisoning from methiocarb. Bare in mind that this is only the amount of methiocarb found in the stomach and that the rest was already methiocarb distributed through the body.
| Matrix | Concentration of methiocarb | Semiquantative detection of methiocarb-metabolite† | Concentration ratio methiocarb/metabolite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stomach | 6100 μg/mL | 65 μg/mL | 94:1 |
| Liver | 25 μg/g | 10 μg/g | 2.5:1 |
| Kidney | 11 μg/g | Not detected | - |
| Heart blood | 4.0 μg/mL | 3.6 μg/g | 1.1:1 |
| Femoral vein blood | Not detected | 12 μg/mL | - |
| Brain | 2.5 μg/g | Not detected | - |
| Bile | 2.0 μg/g | Not detected | - |
| Urine | 1.9 μg/mL | 1.5 μg/mL | 1.3:1 |
†Semiquantitative analysis was performed by the approximation of similar extinction coefficients of mercaptodimethur and its metabolite descarbamoylmercaptodimethur at wavelength 200 nm.
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