a military dump site, the conscripts added it to tobacco, and used it as a substitute for talcum powder on their feet. in 2005, a 17 year-old girl in izunokuni, shizuoka, japan admitted to attempting to murder her mother by lacing her tea with thallium, causing a national scandal. in february 2007, two americans, marina and yana kovalevsky, a mother and daughter, visiting russia were hospitalized for thallium poisoning. both had emigrated from the soviet union to the united states in 1991 and had made several trips to russia since then. in january 2008, 10 members of two families associated with an iraqi soccer club, including several children, were poisoned by cake contaminated with thallium. four died, including two children. in 2011, a chemist at bristol-myers squibb in new jersey, li tianle, was charged with the murder of her husband. according to an investigation by the middlesex county prosecutor's office, li tianle was able to obtain a chemical containing thallium and fed it to her husband. li was a chemistry student at beijing university at the time of the highly publicized thallium poisoning of zhu ling in 1995 at neighboring tsinghua university. in 2012 a chemistry postgraduate student at the university of southampton, uk, was found to be suffering from the effects of thallium and arsenic poisoning after presenting with neurological symptoms. the student underwent an intensive course of treatment and, although he has shown improvement, faces an uncertain long-term prognosis for the recovery of full locomotion. urine screening revealed elevated thallium levels in a small number of other members of the chemistry department, though none were at toxic levels. the source of the poisoning remains unknown, and although police investigations were fruitless, foul play is strongly suspected. in 2018, authorities charged yukai yang, a student at lehigh university, with the attempted murder of his roommate, juwan royal. yang allegedly poisoned royal with thallium and possibly other chemicals. royal experienced vomiting, pain and numbness in his lower extremities, and a long-lasting burning sensation on his tongue. in 2022, an english family court found an unnamed doctor guilty of using thallium in a pot of coffee to kill his partner's father and injuring the partner and her mother in 2012. the case is unusual because it was in a family court, arising out of child-custody matters, rather than a criminal case. in fiction ngaio marsh used thallium acetate in her 1947 detective novel, final curtain. it was being used legitimately for scalp problems in a group of school children just after world war ii, housed in a private estate. a relative living there used it in place of the heart medicine intended for the owner. agatha christie, who worked as an apothecary's assistant, used thallium in 1961 as the agent of murder in her detective fiction novel the pale horse – the first clue to the murder method coming from the hair loss of the victims. this novel is notable as being credited with having saved at least two lives after readers recognised the symptoms of thallium poisoning that christie described. the pale horse was found among possessions of convicted thallium poisoner george trepal's wife, the orthopedic surgeon dr. diana carr (see above), who was herself considered a suspect in the peggy carr (no relation) murder for a time. in nigel williams' 1990 novel the wimbledon poisoner, henry far uses thallium to baste a roast chicken in a failed attempt to murder his wife. thallium figures prominently in the 1995 film the young poisoner's handbook, a dark comedy loosely based on the life of graham frederick young. in big nothing, josie is the wyoming widow; a murderer who befriended men and killed them with whiskey laced with highly concentrated thallium. in the 2007 episode "whatever it takes" of house, a character uses thallium to poison a patient to mimic the effects of polio, then appear to cure it with ultra-high doses of vitamin c. in the ncis episode "dead man walking" (2007), thallium-laced cigars are used to murder a naval officer. "page turner", a 2008 episode of csi: ny, has radioactive thallium poisoning as its central theme. in the 2010 film edge of darkness, thallium is used to poison both the main character and his daughter. in the 2015 james bond film spectre, the organisation of the same name used thallium to poison mr. white by lacing his mobile phone with it. in season 3 of royal pains, the mysterious german billionaire boris kuester von jurgens-ratenicz was poisoned by thallium added to his pool's water. in drop dead diva episode "ashes to ashes", thallium was used to murder a client's husband, affecting the client when she ate the cremation remains. in the 2016 tvb drama two steps from heaven, thallium was used to poison bosco wong's character. in s6:e10 of the father brown series, hercule flambeau's wife poisons father brown with thallium in order to induce flambeau to exchange a religious relic for her giving brown the antidote. guessing the substance his wife used, flambeau gives brown clues as to the antidote, prussian blue. in s6:e9 of elementary, entitled "nobody lives forever" (2018), a biology professor studying how to prolong life spans is poisoned with thallium. as he dies, he falls onto a shelf containing his lab rats, which escape and eventually eat part of his body. some dead rats are found inside him, suggesting to the detectives that the cause of death was poisoning. in s1:e12 of ncis: hawai'i, a young naval officer is murdered with thallium. in s2:e16 of csi:vegas, entitled "we all fall down" (2023), medical examiner sonya nikolayevich is poisoned with thallium when examining a body after the suspect placed thallium under the skin of a deceased victim that was taken to csi for examination.