A Brief Look at How Toxins Have Been Used throughout history to Eliminate Political Elites and Undesirables

Ukrainian presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko was not the first politician to suffer an attack on his life from poisoning. Although such incidents are rare, poisoning still remains one way of influencing big politics.

Most likely, it will remain popular for the foreseeable future, since death by poisoning is hard to prove or refute. In many cases, a toxin’s effects mimic the symptoms of normal illnesses, making medical professionals’ job of correctly diagnosing it quickly all the more difficult. People who create such substances are often one step ahead of doctors and law enforcement officials: it’s possible to engineer a unique kind of toxin, whose composition and effects remain in the hands of just a few people for a long time. For example, in 1995 prominent Russian businessman Ivan Kivelidi was poisoned (along with his secretary). Not until several years later were officials able to determine that he had in fact died as a result of poisoning. His killers never were found.

In the past, it has been next to impossible to create a method of diagnosing even the most common of toxins. One classic example that comes to mind is arsenic, sometimes called the “king of poisons.” It served as the basis for the clear, colorless, tasteless solution Aqua Tofana, which was used in the early Middle Ages. However, the first accurate test for determining arsenic poisoning wasn’t invented until the mid 19th century. Ironically, it was invented after 1821, the year Napoleon Bonaparte died. According to official records, he fell victim to cancer; however, unofficial sources have it that the wallpaper in his room had been soaked in an arsenic compound that, through constant exposure to the toxic substance over time, eventually led to his untimely demise. Despite common knowledge of arsenic’s composition and effects, would-be assassins continue to resort to its use.

Many legendary political figures have died under circumstances prompting their contemporaries and progeny to point to poisoning as a possible cause of death. Similar hypotheses exist, for example, about the deaths of Alexander the Great, King Francis II of France (whose story William Shakespeare uses in Hamlet), and Joseph Stalin. In 1969, King of Uganda Edward Mutesa II died of what his followers believe was the result of arsenic poisoning. Today, rumors are circulating that Israeli agents poisoned the late Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat. Reports have also surfaced in the Arabic media that the United States, with the help of a new radiological weapon, was able to eliminate Palestinian insurgent Wadi Haddad, Algerian president Hawari abu Midden and Syrian leader Hafez Asad.

It is common knowledge that certain intelligence agencies have actively developed and used biological and chemical agents in their line of work. In 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgy Markov was killed by a poisoned umbrella-tip while he waited at a bus stop in London, England (the story which inspired the French movie “Umbrella Coup.”) Symptoms brought on by ricin, the toxin used in the attack, closely resemble those of fulminant fever. Not until after Makrov had perished was the poison discovered on his body where the umbrella tip had punctured his skin. Later, investigators determined that it had been produced in the Soviet Union and passed on to Bulgaria’s secret services.

In 2000, American authorities declassified a top secret document outlining CIA plans to bring down Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Several of the proposed methods were highly amusing. One possibility considered was the secret dispersion of a mixture of the hallucinogen LSD into the air of the radio station from where Castro often addressed the nation. It was thought that Castro’s speech, under influence of the drug, would become slurred and distorted, thereby discrediting him in the eyes of the Cuban people. In another instance, cigars filled with certain chemical substances were supposed to produce a similar result. Then there was a plan to use thallium ozone to cause Castro’s famed beard to fall out. Subsequently, the CIA decided to stick with conventional tablets that could be easily slipped into drinks without notice. However, as the agency had been prohibited from undertaking such action, none of these plans was ever realized.

In 1997, in Amman, Jordan, Israeli intelligence agents attempted to poison Khaled Meshal, a leader of the Hamas terrorist organization by pouring a toxic substance into his ear. The agents, however, were caught in the act. To obtain their freedom, Israel was forced to provide Meshal with the antidote. In 2002, Russian special forces used a letter to poison notorious terrorist Khattab. Poisoning has also become a popular modus operandi for dictators set on eliminating perceived opponents and enemies: Mengistu Haile Miriam, Saddam Hussein and Kim Chen Ir have all resorted to this method.

Biological and chemical toxins also belong to the arsenal of terrorist organizations. However, they have tended to use them to perpetrate massive attacks inflicting large-scale casualties rather than assassinations directed at one or two individuals. In 1946, a small group of Jews that had survived the horrors of Nazi Germany’s labor camps decided to seek revenge. They attempted to contaminate the water of several large German cities with cholera bacillus, a bacterium associated with the intestinal disease of the same name. Though their attempt was unsuccessful, they did manage to infect the drinking water of a camp where former SS officers were being held.

In 1972, a group of Chicago ecological activists resolved to contaminate the drinking water of their home town as a sign of protest against a number of large corporations, which were engaged in practices harmful to the environment.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s in Germany, the leftist Baader-Meinhof Gang attempted to obtain chemical and biological weapons.

In 1984, a cult led by the Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh used salmonella to attack the town of Dallas, Oregon, in an attempt to stop people voting in local elections. More than 750 people suffered from gastroenteritis after the cult infected several local restaurants with the bacteria.

In 1991, The Minnesota Patriots Council, a right-wing group calling for a change in the country’s economic and political course, prepared the toxic agent ricin with the aspiration of using it against certain government officials.

In the latter half of 2001, dozens of people, including several high-ranking government officials, received letters in the mail that where infected with the spores of the lethal toxin anthrax. As a result of the attack, five people died, 18 were injured and hundreds were treated for actual or potential infection. Neither the whereabouts of the perpetrators nor the source of the toxin has yet to be established.