Journal of Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology

Sudden death due to coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death globally. Occlusive coronary artery disease results in ischemia of myocardial tissue and subsequent infarction. Various treatment modalities like blood thinners, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) etc are being employed in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (MI). However, these modalities have their own limitations. In this case, reperfusion therapy resulted in hemorrhagic myocardial infarction (HMI) with a fatal outcome. An adult male with history of sudden collapse was brought to the emergency department, where he was declared as brought dead. He underwent reperfusion therapy and was on blood thinners, 4 days before the incident. On autopsy, we could find the features of hemorrhagic myocardial infarction grossly and the same was confirmed histopathologically. Though reperfusion injuries are commonly documented, deaths due to hemorrhagic myocardial Infarction, which is one of the rare complications of reperfusion therapy, are rarely reported. The important role of forensic pathologists in this case is to identify the rare causes, which led the patient to death during management of occlusive coronary artery disease.

Crime has led to a worldwide increase with a main weapon of offence including not only a physical object but show the incidences of involvement of chemicals also. Chemical warfare agents are one such example commonly employed by large group of people, mainly violent criminals who not only wants to create a terror or threat in the world but to cause war scale destruction. There are numerous of incidents reported from past showing the involvement of hazardous chemicals for committing crimes. Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA) are synthetic chemicals used in the warfare as weapons, which are highly toxic and lethal to the extent that can cause temporary incapacitation, permanent health damage and even death of the targets. Common examples of these agents are nerve agents, vesicants, incapacitating agents, blood agents, and riots control agents. These agents are variedly classified as per the above-mentioned categories depending onto the effects and adverse effects they poses on human health and on society. The rate of crime commission using these hazardous agents is very rapid, thus making it an issue of serious concern to take measures to prevent innocent individuals.

Moonshine an illegally produced alcoholic beverage has caused several times "hooch tragedies" in various states of India. Punjab which is already facing Drug addiction hitch, has also not been untouched by hooch tragedies since 2020 when 120 people in Punjab died due to consumption of hooch. To curb hooch tragedies, Govt. of Punjab showed the very urgency for the inclusion of death penalty in Punjab & Excise Act, 1914. However, owing to shortfalls in quality control norms and non-availability of a reliable facility to identify additives & contaminants in moonshine, avaricious manufacturers are still intentionally adding large number of hazardous additives and ignoring contaminants while manufacturing moonshine to make the brew strong and aromatic. More surprisingly, at present people are still considering methanol a root cause of hooch tragedies. Investigating agencies are more inquisitive to know the presence of methanol in seized samples to qualify them as 'unfit for drink'. It is crystal clear that merely the presence of methanol in any sample does not prove it lethal as it has also been studied that many alcoholic beverages contain methanol naturally at low level without causing harm. At present, a study on hazardous additives and contaminants in moonshine along with their harmful effects & source discrimination has not yet been reported. Henceforth, a forensic attempt is made to secure public health by chemically profiling various hazardous additives and contaminants detected in seized moonshine samples along with enlightening their harmful effects on body so as to make public aware of the hidden health hazards of moonshine. In this study, 31 samples of moonshine seized by Punjab Police from various districts of Punjab were extracted, sonicated and analyzed by GCMS technique for the detection of hazardous additives and contaminants. For comparison & discrimination of source of these samples, grouping of detected chemicals was done using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) a cluster analysis method. Our research outcome led to successful chemical profiling of 187 detected chemicals and among these 187 chemical compounds, 73 chemical compounds were found How to cite this article: Deepak Middha, Archna Negi, Meenu Kushwaha/ Forensic Chemical Profiling of Hazardous Additives and Contaminants along with their harmful Effects & Source discrimination of seized Moonshine samples: A study on New Emerging Crisis in Punjab/J Forensic Chemistry Toxicol. 2023; 9(1):19–45. Hazardous as these can cause severe health problems viz. eye, nose & throat irritation, inflammation to monocytes, birth defects, CNS disorder, cancer & death. Hence through this research an effort is made to secure public health and to alert govt. agencies regarding these health hazardous additives and contaminants.

Background: The use of advanced radiological techniques is rising in the field of forensics to supplement and validate the evidence. Postmortem Computed Tomography (PMCT) is now used as a standard procedure in many institutions to augment traditional autopsy findings. The application of PMCT in hanging cases will greatly reduce the number of invasive traditional autopsies, as hanging is the most common method of suicide in Northern parts of India. Therefore this observational study was conducted to compare PMCT with traditional autopsy in fifty hanging cases.

Result: Out of 50 cases, the age of the subjects ranged between 14 years and 70 years. PMCT with the help of 3D reconstruction was able to detect external ligature marks on the neck in 92% (N=46) of cases giving a sensitivity of 92% (CI = 80.77% to 97.78%). Skin and subcutaneous tissue desiccation were identifiable in 96% (N=48) by PMCT, giving a sensitivity of 96% (CI= 86.29% to 99.51%). The muscle hemorrhage was identified in 4% (N=2) of the cases in traditional autopsy while the authors found difficulty in interpreting the muscle hemorrhage in PMCT. In detecting thyroid cartilage fracture, the sensitivity of PMCT was found to be 100% (CI= 15.81% to 100.00%) and specificity of 100% (CI=92.60% to 100.00%). In detecting hyoid bone fracture, the sensitivity was 100% (CI= 2.50% to 100.00%), and specificity of 100% (CI=92.60% to 100.00%). In addition, there was a great degree of agreement between the two observers for these findings suggesting the reproducibility of the result.

Conclusions: A consistency in findings of both the PMCT and traditional autopsy was found. However, CT was unable to detect muscle hemmorhages, compared to traditional autopsy. Authors suggest the use of CT angiography to overcome this shortcoming, till then CT can only augment invasive autopsy findings not replace it