The most dangerous toxins to humans

Botulinum, snake venom or arsenic (arsenic) are dangerous toxins to humans, can cause death, cancer or destruction of organs.

1. Snake venom

The average lethal dose (LD50) of a poison is the dose needed to kill half of the individuals used as a test for a given experimental period. The higher the toxicity, the smaller the LD50 value.

Most types of snake venom are complex mixtures of many proteins, often neurotoxic with LD50 below 1mg / kg. Toxins in snake venom can affect people or animals attacked at different speeds. With slow-acting snake venom, bitten people may have time to interfere with the wound. Meanwhile, fast-acting snake venom can kill people quickly.

Toxins in snake venom can affect people or animals attacked at different speeds.(Artwork: Flickr)

2. Arsen (Arsenic)

The amount of LD50 of arsenic is about 13 mg / kg. Arsenic and its compounds are strong toxic substances, classified as toxic and dangerous to the environment.

Arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds are often used to produce herbicides, wood preservatives and applications in the metallurgical industry. According to the World Health Organization, they are classified as dangerous chemicals and cause cancer in humans at organs such as skin, lungs or bladder. When using arsenic-contaminated water, this toxin accumulates in the body, causing damage to many organ systems and cancers, most commonly skin cancer.

3. Mercury

Mercury is very toxic, can cause death when inhaled through inhalation. The toxicity of mercury-related mercury is in the form of mercury involved in each case. Organic and inorganic mercury compounds have different effects and their LD50 is also different. Mercury in liquid form is usually less toxic. Very toxic compounds or mercury, which cause brain and liver damage if people are exposed, breathe or eat.

4. Polonium-210

Polonium-210 is a rare highly toxic substance outside the scope of science and military. A quantity of Po-210 powder has a mass less than one gram that can be fatal to humans. Research conducted by the British Health Protection Agency in 2007 showed that once Po-210 entered a person's blood, the possibility of saving that person was almost zero. This was the substance that killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 in London.

Mercury and arsenic can cause people to die through the process of metal contact with the body. Meanwhile, polonium kills people by radiating large quantities of alpha particles to destroy internal organs and cells.

As one of more than 20 isotopes of Polonium, Po-210 is considered to be one of the rare substances in the world.(Photo: EPA)

5. Botulinum toxin

There are 8 types of botulinum toxins, named alphabetically from A to H, discovered so far. Stephon Arnon and colleagues from the California Department of Public Health in Sacramento, California, USA, discovered the 8th botulinum toxin late last year.

Some botulinum is used in the cosmetic industry (included in botox). In the case of botulinum toxin, its LD50 is 5 nanograms / kg.

Botulinum H is a protein produced from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. With a powerful toxin, Botulinum H is thought to be the most dangerous poison for humans, only one injection of 2 nanograms or inhaling 13 nanograms containing botulinum toxins can also kill an adult. Doses that do not kill people when injected into mice can paralyze damaged limbs for about a month.

6. Ricin

Ricin is a deadly poison found in many plants, especially castor. This poison can be extracted and used as a destructive weapon on a large scale. Chewing or swallowing ricin almost always leads to death.

Photo: LoLWot.

7. Poison in dart frog

Frog poison on darts living in tropical rainforests is strong enough to easily kill an adult man. Frogs store toxins in the body and only once touch, this poison will spread to the victim's nervous system.

Photo: LoLWot.

8. Sarin

In the picture is a 3D molecular structure of sarin, a toxic gas that acts on the nervous system, which was born as a pesticide in 1983. However, it was used on humans in the war between Iran and Iraq in 1980 - 1988 and in Japan in 1995. Symptoms of poisoning include runny nose, difficulty breathing, and victims often fall into a coma.

Photos: Wikipedia.

9. Tetrodotoxin

Tetrodotoxin clogs nerves in the body, preventing changes in voltage that occur across nerve cells. This poison is in puffer fish, causing paralysis and death within 6 hours after absorption.

Photo: LoLWot.

10. Cyanua

Cyanua is probably the most famous poison because it is used in many terrorist attacks. If a person inhales or absorbs cyanide through the gastrointestinal tract, he or she will die within 20 seconds of asphyxiation.

Photo: LoLWot.

11. VX

VX is an extremely toxic substance that is not used for any purpose other than nerve agents in chemical warfare. It is classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction. Production and storage of VX is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

Photo: LoLWot.

12. Strychhine

Strychhine is a colorless poison that tastes bitter and is found in money tree seeds and many plants with them. This toxin causes all vertebral muscles to contract at the same time.

Photo: LoLWot.

13. Toxicity of coal bacteria

The toxin attached to the anthrax bacteria can penetrate the human body through the respiratory tract. The first symptoms are like colds, flu, and the victim will die within a few days.

Photos: Wikipedia.

14. Amatoxin

Amatoxin is found in many fungi. This toxin affects the liver, which can lead to respiratory diseases and coma.

Photo: LoLWot.