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Toxic agents and humans

Toxic agents and humans. Supertoxins. Normally found in nature! Used as defense mechanisms Not toxic to organism itself. Supertoxins. Clostridium botulinum toxin By far, the most toxic substance known to mankind LD 50 of 0.001 µ g/kg (that’s microgram)

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Toxic agents and humans

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  1. Toxic agents and humans

  2. Supertoxins • Normally found in nature! • Used as defense mechanisms • Not toxic to organism itself

  3. Supertoxins • Clostridium botulinum toxin • By far, the most toxic substance known to mankind • LD50 of 0.001 µg/kg (that’s microgram) • 15,000 times more toxic than VX and 100,000 times more toxic than Sarin, two well known organophosphate nerve agents. • The organism is commonly found in soil • All food processing is based on deactivation of C. botulinum

  4. A Few Nanograms of C.botulinum Are all it takes to stop those nasty wrinkles or to reduce excessive underarm sweating!

  5. Tetrodotoxin • Puffer fish poisoning • LD50 approximately 0.1 mg/kg • Also known as the VooDoo toxin • Also known as fugu poisoning – the “deadly delicacy” • Kills 100 - 200 wealthy diners each year • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu

  6. Tetrodotoxin Felicia Felix-Mentor, of Haiti, who died and was buried in 1907, found wandering the countryside in 1937. Is this the only known photograph of a zombie?

  7. Super Toxins - Ricin • 3rd Most toxic substance known to mankind (behind botulinum and plutonium) • LD50 of 1 µg/kg (1 gram is enough to kill 36,000 people) • Comes from the castor bean plant (the bean contains most of the toxin) • Has been called the “secret agent” toxin

  8. Ricin – from the castor bean plant

  9. Georgi Markov

  10. George Markov and Ricin • Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by poison dart filled with ricin and fired from an umbrella in London in 1978. • Markov, a communist defector working for the BBC World Service, left his office at Bush House in the UK capital on September 11 and walked across Waterloo Bridge to take the train home to Clapham in south-west London. • As he waited at a bus stop moments into his journey home, he felt a sharp jab in his thigh and saw a man picking up an umbrella. • He developed a high temperature and in four days was dead. • A post mortem, conducted with the help of scientists from the UK government's germ warfare centre at Porton Down, established that he had been killed by a tiny pellet containing a 0.2 milligram dose of the poison ricin. • Markov's assassination was detected only because the pellet carrying the poison had not dissolved as expected. • His assassin has never been captured despite close cooperation between British and Bulgarian authorities, including Interpol. • Markov, a playwright and satirist who had broadcast scathing accounts of Communist high life to Bulgaria, was the subject of two failed assassination attempts before he was killed.

  11. Supertoxic Animals • Sea snake, Death Adder, King Brown snake • Poison Dart Frogs • Amanita or Death Cap Mushroom • Box Jellyfish • Funnel Web Spider and Brown Recluse Spider

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