Botulinum toxin is 32,000-times more toxic than sodium cyanide and 100,000-times more so than DDT. Although there are some awful man-made poisons, like VX gas or fentanyl, Mother Nature wins this contest hands down. It becomes immediately obvious that there is a huge range of toxicity throughout the chemical world. Well-known chemicals and their respective toxicities. The other chemicals were ranked by comparison to aspartame. The toxicity (LD 50), either in rats or mice, was determined by administration of a single oral dose of the chemical. The safest chemical I chose (and one of the safest anyone could choose) was (aspartame, LD 50 = 10,000 mg/kg) and assigned a value of 1.0. Table 2 (below) contains a random group of well-known chemicals, both naturally occurring and synthetic.

When it comes to 'pee-your-pants scary.' neurotoxins, Mother Nature makes some bad boys which common synthetic poisons seem like white bread. It just so happens that of the five neurotoxins I have selected, the most toxic three chemicals come from natural sources, which is not unusual. The lower the LD 50, the more potent the toxin. Table 1 lists five well-known paralytics and their properties. They are numerous chemicals, both natural and synthetic, that do so. Tetrodotoxin is far from the only chemical that causes paralysis. Image: Bottom: The depiction of a normal sodium ion channel (left) and one that is blocked by a tetrodotoxin molecule (right) Image: University of Maryland Top: The chemical structure of tetrodotoxin.

The passage of sodium ions through the channels is one type of molecular switch which tells nerves when to fire (Figure 1).įigure 1. Tetrodotoxin disrupts the normal function of the nervous system by blocking sodium ions from crossing cell membranes, causing paralysis. Photo: Aichi Prefectural Government's Department of Health and Public WelfareĪlthough the meat of blowfish (aka pufferfish) is considered to be a delicacy, whoever prepares it (1) better be quite careful to remove the liver, which contains an extraordinarily toxic chemical called tetrodotoxin. The city is taking this matter seriously enough to have emergency loudspeakers, which are normally used for earthquakes, broadcasting fugu warnings.Ī package of fugu. Although no one has been harmed, the discovery of five packages of fugu - Japanese for blowfish - that did not have its livers removed before packaging. Of course, the answer is the blowfish, something that people in Gamagori, a small city in southern Japan are rather concerned about. * If you're wondering what a Gus Burger is, see: ' The Gus Burger As A Proxy Of Wobbly 'Food Science'' Before we take a look, let's take a little (and meaningless) food quiz: Which of the following food is the riskiest to your health? They are dealing with ass-kicking marine neurotoxin that you want no part of. There is certainly a good example of natural not equaling safe in Japan right now. (See: Vitamin C Conundrum For The Organic Crowd). Your body cannot tell whether a chemical it 'encounters' came from an organic farm in Vermont or a refinery next to the New Jersey Turnpike. Chemicals in either group can be safe or deadly this depends solely upon the chemical structure of any given molecule. But, as we at the American Council have said time and time again, there is no such thing as life without chemicals, nor is there an innate difference in toxicity (or any other property) between naturally occurring chemicals and those that were made in a lab.

For those of you who have deluded yourselves into believing that you can eat a natural, 'chemical-free' diet and live to be 2 million years old, I hate to burst your bubble.

Fugu blow fish