What kind of poison can kill you

Originally synthesized for use as a pesticide, it was outlawed as a warfare agent in Tetrodotoxin ingested Found in the organs of puffer fish the famous Japanese delicacy fugu , tetrodotoxin persists even after the fish is cooked.

If the toxin is consumed, paralysis and death can strike within six hours. Up to five Japanese die from badly prepared fugu every year. Cyanide ingested or inhaled Cyanide exists in a number of lethal forms that are present in nature or easily manufactured. Exposure leads to seizures, cardiac arrest, and death within minutes. Mercury inhaled Low levels of mercury are not especially toxic to adults.

VX and other nerve agents stop this enzyme from working, so muscle contractions go out of control and you die of asphyxiation. Nerve agents were made by both sides during the Cold War , but VX became particularly well-known after featuring in Hollywood blockbuster film The Rock.

Only one person is known to have been killed by VX, a former member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult , though some 4, sheep were killed by it in an accident in Skull Valley, Utah in It has an LD50 of as little as 3 micrograms per kg although some reports suggest the figure is a little higher.

Curare is the best known, and comes from a plant. The most toxic, however, come from the skins of tiny frogs — and the deadliest of all is Batrachotoxin. Native Indians in Western Colombia collect these frogs — golden Phyllobates terribilis and multicoloured Phyllobates bicolor — and sweat out the poison over a fire before putting it on their darts. The LD50 is around 2 micrograms per kg, meaning that an amount the size of two grains of table salt will kill you.

Batrachotoxin kills by interfering with sodium ion channels in the cells of muscles and nerves, jamming them open so that they do not close.

Interestingly, captive-born frogs of these species are not poisonous, suggesting that the poison is derived from their diet. Indeed, nearly 30 years ago, Jack Dumbacher , an American ornithologist, was working in Papua New Guinea when he was scratched on the hand by one of the local Pitohui birds. He instinctively put his hand to his mouth, which started to go numb. Eventually, it was found that these birds — on the opposite side of the world to Colombia — have plumage containing the same poisonous molecule as the frogs.

It is thought that both the birds and frogs obtain the toxin from the beetles they eat — although the poison is far less potent in the birds. There are a number of potent marine toxins , such as Saxitoxin, which are often the cause of poisoning after eating contaminated shellfish.

Dogs and children are most at risk of daffodil poisoning, which can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and liver damage. However, adults have also been known to suffer daffodil poisoning after mistaking daffodil bulbs for wild onions.

Surprisingly, rice actually contains trace amounts of arsenic. Though the amount of arsenic contained in a serving of rice isn't considered to be acutely toxic, the consumption of arsenic has the potential to increase the risk of some illnesses, including cancer. Tomatoes are juicy and flavorful fruits that contain plenty of beneficial vitamins and nutrients, but their leaves are poisonous to humans. They contain small amounts of solanine , which is a toxic alkaloid.

Accidentally nibbling a small leaf or two in your tomato salad won't hurt, but eating a large number of tomato leaves — for example, using them as greens in a salad — could be dangerous. The ruby red flesh of rhubarb stalks is popular as a raw snack or addition to cooked dishes.

However, the leafy green leaves of rhubarb are actually poisonous. They contain high levels of oxalic acid , which can cause kidney failure and death in humans. However, an adult would need to eat between 10 and 18 pounds of rhubarb leaves to be fatally poisoned. Cherries are another common fruit that actually has poisonous pits.

According to the Missouri Poison Center, cherry pits are high in cyanogenic glycoside. This compound can cause death if ingested in large doses. Though poisoning by cherry pit is extremely rare — you'd need to chew many pits to receive a fatal dose — it's still a good idea to remove pits from the fruit before blending or chopping. Bitter almonds have an alluring scent, but eating them in their raw form can kill.

These seeds contain cyanide in amounts that can be potentially lethal. At least eight of these 27 deaths were due to the accidental ingestion of paraquat. All eight of these accidental deaths involved transfer of paraquat into a beverage container. Several of these cases have occurred recently. A review of the SENSOR-Pesticides data identified additional ingestion cases, including the fatal case of an 8-year-old child who drank the paraquat out of a soda bottle.

See EPA Actions to adopt measures to prevent poisoning and protect workers from paraquat. EPA has warned the applicator community about the high toxicity of paraquat.