[meteorite-list] Carancas: Arsenic smell ?

[Michael Bross]

Hi List

I am coming like "hair in the soup"... about Carancas, seeing the just 
recent exchanges :)
but following the post about Staten Island today I did some search on 
NYTimes website

and got to this article from 2007 in the first 10 hits:
(http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/perus-meteor-illness-explained-invitation-extended/?scp=2&sq=meteorite&st=cse)

Was the Arsenic theory ever proven ?
Did anybody from the List, on site at the time, remember a "like garlic" 
smell, which is typical for
most of arsenic forms ? (Although, some forms or in small quantities would 
not yield a strong garlic smell)

If not, any further studies and lab test about that smell ?

Peru has been the place for a lot of mining waste recycling from US and 
elsewhere.
Copper, gold, silver ores can contain quite some Arsenic (in Philippines up 
to 14% !)
I remember also Tacoma, Washington, where we got to the "arsenic kitchen" 
site from an
old smelter place (beginning 20th century)... the underground soil smelt 
like a huge pot of cooked garlic :)

I know... it is not the main interest on this list.
But having been quite active in arsenic cleaning in soils and groundwater... 
I enjoy seeing
this Carancas story including probable (?) arsenic release

A bientot
Michael B, France