Now You Know

World's Deadliest Substances?

Toxic substances include anything that can physically harm us after we inhale, swallow, or touch it, from an innocent bee sting to full blown cyanide poisoning.

Toxins are toxic substances produced by living organisms. They mainly use toxins to ward off predators or paralyze prey. Small but deadly bacteria produce some of the most potent toxins known, including botulinum toxin A.

Targeting different parts of the body, toxic substances can damage us in an alarming number of ways. Neurotoxins are some of the most effective, effecting the brain and nervous system and causing muscles to twitch or freeze uncontrollably. Other substances can burst our red blood cells or cause allergic reactions.

BOTOX: This is the most toxic substance in nature- just one gram could kill 14,000 people if swallowed, or 8.3 million people if injected. Produced by clostridium botulinum bacteria, this neurotoxin is responsible for botulism, a.rare but life-threatening illness transmitted principally through contaminated canned food. Botulinum chariots communication between nerves and muscle cells, gradually paralyzing its victims and finally leading to respiratory failure.

ASBESTOS: Asbestos is the name given to a handful of different minerals which share one common feature: bunches of fibrous crystals. Boasting an array of insulating properties topped off with a low price tag, asbestos was a popular building material until its toxic effects came to light. With repeated inhalation, asbestos fibres accumulate in the lungs, causing deadly diseases like asbestosis, an inflammatory lung condition, and cancer.

RICIN: Found in the castor oil plant, ricin is a toxic protein that wreaks havoc on ribosomes, the cell's protein builders. The result is severe damage to major organs. Just one milligram of ricin is enough to kill an adult if inhaled or ingested, leading many countries to investigate its use as a biological weapon. The castor oil plant's popularity as an ornamental shrub and the relative ease of extracting the toxin from the castor beans have also made ricin the poison of choice for many assassins.

TETRODOTOXIN: Thrill-seeking Japanese diners are sometimes tempted to try fugu, a variety of pufferfish. The catch? If the chef slips up, they risk being poisoned with tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin contained in the fish's gonads, liver, intestines, and skin. Opening nerves' ion channels, tetrodotoxin acts similarly to batrachotoxin to block nerve impulses, causing paralysis and death by respiratory failure. Although chefs need a license to serve fugu, mishaps still poison an estimated 200 people each year, with half of them dying. Pufferfish are not the only ones to use tetrodotoxin; it is one of the most common toxins in the marine world, employed by scores of crabs, fish, and mollusks, including the blue-ringed octopus.

CYANIDE: Whether inhaled or ingested, cyanide is one of the fastest acting poisons known, sealing death sentences in minutes. Chemically speaking, cyanide is a compound with a triple bond between a carbon and a nitrogen atom. Hydrogen cyanide gas and solid sodium or potassium cyanide are highly toxic, preventing the body's cells from using oxygen and starving the heart and brain. Certain fruit pits contain cyanide and small quantities of hydrogen cyanide are present in the engine exhaust fumes.

SARIN: Sarin is a man made nerve agent, first developed as a pesticide by German scientists in 1938. A colorless, tasteless but extremely volatile gas, it works by inhibiting the body's enzyme which breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, causing it to accumulate at nerve endings. This signals to muscles to contract uncontrollably, triggering a range of unpleasant effects which culminate in death by asphyxiation.

TCDD: TCDD is the deadliest of the dioxins. These chemicals occur in the natural world but are produced in much larger quantities by industry. Dioxins persist for a long time, accumulating in the fat cells of living organisms. As a result,.small quantities of dioxins may go.unnoticed, but over time they can damage the immune and reproductive systems and increase the likelihood of diabetes and cancer. High doses such as those experienced during the Vietnam war with the USA's use of Agent Orange- an herbicide contaminated with TCDD- spark an immediate reaction.

BATRACHOTOXIN: Batrachotoxin is the deadliest ingredient in a lethal cocktail of toxins secreted by certain poison-dart frogs. These darts kill prey almost instantaneously. The frogs don't actually produce batrachotoxin themselves, but obtain it by eating poisonous beetles. Batrachotoxin opens.nerve cells' ion channels permanently, preventing them from creating an electric potential. This blocks cell signalling, paralyzing muscles. Heart muscles are particularly sensitive.to the toxin, leading to an irregular pulse, and- soon after- a heart attack.

DIGITALIS: Digitalis, or foxglove, owes its toxicity to cardiac the glycosides digitoxin and digoxin- compounds with the capacity to both help and harm. When ingested, glycosides affect the behavior of heart muscles. In controlled doses, they can regulate the heartbeat and treat congestive heart failure. But taking too much digitalis medication, or eating parts of the plant, can trigger a fatal heart attack.

Source: {http://wee.someinterestingfacts.net/top-10-most-deadliest-substance-known-to-man/}