Abstract

The human being is immersed in an environment where he inhales, ingests or absorbs many chemical substances, in forensic medical practice the exposures in the workplace and those that cause death take on relevance. Toluene is a neuronal inhibitor associated with progressive damage of the central and peripheral nervous system, its toxicity can occur by involuntary or deliberate inhalation and can even lead to death. A bibliographic review was carried out in different databases, of the published articles referring to the subject of the last eight years, with the objective of reviewing the characteristics of the chemical, the metabolism, both acute and chronic poisoning and its lethal implications. It is concluded that to improve the legal medical expertise when assessing cases of toluene poisoning, causality criteria must be considered in cases of occupational disease and in suspected cases of death the toxicology result is fundamental in the absence of specific findings in the autopsy.

Key words: Poisoning; toluene; organic solvents; legal medicine