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Fwd: Student Accused in Poisoning Case

In a message dated 11/15/98 12:24:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, AOL News
writes:

<< Student Accused in Poisoning Case
 
 .c The Associated Press
 
  By SCOTT ANDREWS
 
 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A Brown University graduate student has been charged
with using a radioactive medical chemical to poison two other students -- one
of them his former girlfriend, authorities said Sunday.
 
 Neither of the poisoned students was harmed, said university spokesman Mark
Nickel
 
 Cheng Gu, 24, placed a radioactive isotope of iodine in a dish of vegetables
and chicken he gave to Yuanyuan Xiao, a fellow student in molecular
pharmacology, said police Lt. Stephen Campbell. Xiao's roommate, undergraduate
James A. O'Brien, also ate the tainted food.
 
 Gu was arrested Friday and charged with poisoning, assault and larceny. He
was freed on personal recognizance until his next court date.
 
 The attack apparently was motivated by ``some kind of love interest,'' said
police Capt. John Ryan. Xiao told police she had been Gu's girlfriend in their
native China and, for a time, in the United States.
 
 The isotope, iodine-125, is used to diagnose and treat thyroid disorders, and
the amount Xiao and O'Brien received was about the same as that given in such
diagnostic procedures, said Nickel.
 
 The contamination was discovered Wednesday when Xiao arrived at Brown's
pharmacology laboratory, where students routinely are tested for radiation. A
Geiger counter showed that Xiao was ``hot,'' Campbell said.
 
 Finding nothing amiss in the lab, safety personnel went to Xiao's home and
found radioactive contamination in Gu's dish of chicken, tomatoes, string
beans and a green leafy vegetable, Campbell said.
 
 Although Gu worked in the laboratory, he was not supposed to be working with
iodine-125 and the isotope was secured with a combination lock, Campbell said.
 
 Iodine-125 has a half-life of six months, meaning half of its radiation
dissipates every six months.
 
 AP-NY-11-15-98 1223EST >>



Student Accused in Poisoning Case

.c The Associated Press

 By SCOTT ANDREWS

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A Brown University graduate student has been charged
with using a radioactive medical chemical to poison two other students -- one
of them his former girlfriend, authorities said Sunday.

Neither of the poisoned students was harmed, said university spokesman Mark
Nickel

Cheng Gu, 24, placed a radioactive isotope of iodine in a dish of vegetables
and chicken he gave to Yuanyuan Xiao, a fellow student in molecular
pharmacology, said police Lt. Stephen Campbell. Xiao's roommate, undergraduate
James A. O'Brien, also ate the tainted food.

Gu was arrested Friday and charged with poisoning, assault and larceny. He was
freed on personal recognizance until his next court date.

The attack apparently was motivated by ``some kind of love interest,'' said
police Capt. John Ryan. Xiao told police she had been Gu's girlfriend in their
native China and, for a time, in the United States.

The isotope, iodine-125, is used to diagnose and treat thyroid disorders, and
the amount Xiao and O'Brien received was about the same as that given in such
diagnostic procedures, said Nickel.

The contamination was discovered Wednesday when Xiao arrived at Brown's
pharmacology laboratory, where students routinely are tested for radiation. A
Geiger counter showed that Xiao was ``hot,'' Campbell said.

Finding nothing amiss in the lab, safety personnel went to Xiao's home and
found radioactive contamination in Gu's dish of chicken, tomatoes, string
beans and a green leafy vegetable, Campbell said.

Although Gu worked in the laboratory, he was not supposed to be working with
iodine-125 and the isotope was secured with a combination lock, Campbell said.

Iodine-125 has a half-life of six months, meaning half of its radiation
dissipates every six months.

AP-NY-11-15-98 1223EST

 Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP
news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press. 

 

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