Sodium Morphate

Quixote

Critical Thinker
Q
Joined
Oct 26, 2002
Messages
371
Sodium morphate is the poison of choice among conspiracy theorists and TV spies. It supposedly induces a heart attack and is undetectable. Various sources of dubious authority have the substance administered as a pill, by injection and by absorbtion through the skin.

Does anyone have any hard data or a source for hard data on this mysterious substance?
 
I really didn't get many hits in Google on this, and they all seemed to be conspiracy nonsense. No chemistry or medical hits. Is this even a real chemical?
 
The name 'sodium morphate' implies that it is a sodium salt of a substance beginning with morph-. Possibly morphine at a guess.

I have never heard of this substance. If this is just another name for morphine, then sure it can kill, but it would need a large amount and would be easily detectable at autopsy.

I think the name might be a play on words. 'Morph' meaning to change or adapt- alluding to the difficulty in detection. The sodium bit of the name is probably borrowed from sodium pentathol (the famous 'truth drug') allegedly used by secret services.

All just conjecture on my part. I reserve the right to be completely wrong!
 
Seems like a poison of myth....

Sodium Morphate. Roberts makes these four statements about the putative super-poison: 1. It smells like apples. 2. It has been used since the Middle Ages. 3. It does not show up during autopsy. 4. It is a common ingredient in rat poison. He insisted on this last point to Caruana in a face-to-face interview
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Rat poison?

This would be rat poison from the 1960s and 70s.

Cyanide?
 
Odd.

It's my understanding that the posion used with those characteristics (which has been used at least once) is a derivitive from aspirin (Salicylic Acid); I can't remember if it was Salicylic Acid itself or a derivitive of the same.

Also, Ricin is a poison that has been used historically in poisonings (one successful attempt with a pellet fired from an umbrella comes to mind).

I would imagine they are thinking of Salicylic Acid, as sodium plays a part in it's manufacture

Some of the symptoms do seem to mimic heart attack, to a degree...confusion, dizziness, rapid breathing.

Just my guesses (I'm far from an expert). :)
 
Cyanide?
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Doubtful. Cyanide poisoning is readily discovered during autopsy.

Although there are trace amounts of cyanide compounds in apple seeds, they actually smell of almonds.
 
Skeptoid said:
Although there are trace amounts of cyanide compounds in apple seeds, they actually smell of almonds.
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I'll second this statement, although there is an interesting factoid to add to it. Only about 50% of people can smell the almond smell; apparantly it's a genetic thing. There is a single case (I recall from a Discovery Channel crime show) where cyanide poisoning was missed because the doctor performing autopsy couldn't smell it. Of course, the situation involved did not arouse suspicion (older person that died after long illness). However, the smell was obvious upon re-examination of tissue samples by a different MD years later.
 
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