# French Officials: Arafat Not Poisoned \ **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428 "2004-11-18T06:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/1 "2004-11-18T06:07:22Z")
There appears to be some public confusion about Yasser Arafat’s cause of death. This was reported in the UK’s _Telegraph_. > [@](#): > > France yesterday dismissed claims that Yasser Arafat was poisoned. Doctors said the Palestinian leader died from a blood disorder called [disseminated intravascular coagulation](http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/18/wmid18.xml). Mere hours later, people in the blogosphere are starting to “connect the dots”. > [@](#): > > Ricin is a potent protein toxin derived from the beans of the castor plant (_Ricinus communis_). […] This toxin may also cause [disseminated intravascular coagulation](http://www.nbc-med.org/SiteContent/MedRef/OnlineRef/FieldManuals/medman/Ricin.htm), microcirculatory failure and multiple organ failure if given intravenously in laboratory animals. It should be noted that [DIC](http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic150.htm) can be caused by a number of other factors, including liver disease, blood transfusion or snake envenomation. But with a story like this, and ricin’s proven, effective use as an [assassination](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov) tool, I’m certain people will continue to see what they want to see. If Yasser Arafat is widely believed to have been poisoned, what effect will this have on the peace process? What effect would this belief have, among Palestinians and Arabs around the world, on Mr Arafat’s legacy? Also, in 20 years (proven or unproven), will this story have attained the legendary status of an incident such as the attack on the _USS Liberty_? ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/2 "2004-11-18T06:12:42Z")
Arafat’s been a thorn in the world’s side for 40 years. I find it hard to believe they’d wait this long to poison him. I mean, yes, it’s easier to pass it off as old age, if this is true, but man, you think they’d have done it before. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/3 "2004-11-18T07:10:35Z")
Huh. DIC. It’s one of the things I ventured in the Arafat Health Speculation thread in GD a few weeks ago. Arafat was rumored to have thrombocytopenia, which may or may not have been caused by the DIC. If the thrombocytopenia was primary to it, then it could have caused the liver failure or any host of other organ failures and this could have led to DIC. DIC is a pretty common way for sick people to die. It is the end product of a bunch of disease processes – infections, cancer, atherosclerosis, trauma. Positing that it was ricin ignores the fact that Arafat had been of poor and declining health (rumored because of stomach cancer or a host of other diseases) for years. That’s not to say that it isn’t ricin, but I just think it is very improbable. Nobody had much to gain from Arafat’s death. Israel has for years been convincing the world that he is “irrelevant.” In doing so, they have removed much of the power from him. Witness the almost nonexistant mad power grab going on right now. He had a title and an air of legitimacy, but not much else, so there isn’t much to grab. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/4 "2004-11-18T07:32:32Z")
And who knows how he would’ve been poisoned anyway. This sounds like another one of those “you can’t prove it DIDN’T happen” type of things that’ll stick around for ages. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/5 "2004-11-18T13:19:36Z")
**edwino** is right about DIC being a final process leading to death in a number of different disease states. It is meaningless to cite it as a cause of death - much as if you said that someone died because his heart stopped. Given the prevalence of conspiracy theory and paranoia regarding Arafat’s death, the failure of French health authorities to be open and forthcoming smacks of complete incompetence, political motivation or obsessive and unnecessary secrecy over an ailment with perceived embarassing overtones. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/6 "2004-11-18T13:38:44Z")
But… you’ll notice that in the videotape of Arafat in the French hospital, the bed sheets just hang there, they don’t flutter. And there’s a glare on the screen, as if there were only one light source, when in a hospital there would certainly be many light sources. Further, it’s night outside the window in Paris and you can’t see the Eiffel Tower. No, obviously, he was poisoned and this is a gigantic conspiracy. Hey, as long as you can blame the Jews, you can have instant credibility in the Arab whirled for anything. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/7 "2004-11-18T13:41:24Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > Hey, as long as you can blame the Jews, you can have instant credibility in the Arab whirled for anything. Actually, rumors also accuse Palestinian leaders. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/8 "2004-11-18T13:55:40Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > the failure of French health authorities to be open and forthcoming smacks of complete incompetence, political motivation or obsessive and unnecessary secrecy over an ailment with perceived embarassing overtones. French health authorities can’t legally disclose the informations. Actually, they shouldn’t even be aware of them, apart the medical team itself, and a Palestinian doctor to whom the medical infos have been communicated. Still legally, only her wife could disclose said informations. Given the context, though, I’m not convinced french authorities really have decided to be hyper-legalist. My guess would be that they don’t want to disclose directly the infos and would rather have Arafat’s wife and the Palestinian leaders decide themselves whether they should be made public or not (which would suggest there’s something unpleasant to disclose). On the other hand, the Palestinian authorities are going on pretending they don’t have a clue about the causes of death, either. A Palestinian official just came to Paris to request these infos. And what about this Palestinian doctor? So, I don’t know what game everybody (the French authorities, the Palestinian ones and Arafat’s wife) is playing. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/9 "2004-11-18T14:23:34Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Given the context, though, I’m not convinced french authorities really have decided to be hyper-legalist. My guess would be that they don’t want to disclose directly the infos and would rather have Arafat’s wife and the Palestinian leaders decide themselves whether they should be made public or not (which would suggest there’s something unpleasant to disclose). Given the “revelation” of DIC, I think “hyper-legalism” has gone by the boards. You can’t have a major political leader with lots of enemies fall ill and die and expect to hush the whole thing up. If you’re going to disclose a cause of death, be candid about it and don’t enable the ravings of conspiracy theorists. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-officials-arafat-not-poisoned-le-wink/275428/10 "2004-11-18T14:44:41Z")
Are you sure that this revelaion about DIC is an official statement, rather than yet another “anonymous medical source”. I read that the health minister has stated that there’s no reason to suspect a poisonning, but I’m not aware of any further official statement.