Lethal doses! Everyone should know this. Lethal doses of common substances for humans (9 photos)

Alcohol

One of the units for measuring the concentration of a substance is ppm, which corresponds to a thousandth. Therefore, 1 ppm of alcohol is 1 ml of pure alcohol per 1 liter of blood. In 0.5 liters of vodka there are 200 ml of pure alcohol, which at 75 live weight will give an intoxication of 2.5 ppm. Lethal doses for a person they are 5-6 ppm, which is approximately equal to 1-1.25 liters of vodka per nose.
It was true in 2004 exceptional case In Bulgaria. Then the Alcotest 203 of the man taken to the hospital showed 9.14 ppm. Multiple checks have confirmed this figure, but it is not clear how a person managed to survive with such a concentration.

Vitamins

An excess of vitamins (hypervitaminosis) is no less dangerous than their deficiency (hypovitaminosis). Each vitamin has its own clinical picture overdose. With excess vitamin A we get dizziness, nausea, headache, increased heart rate, convulsions and loss of consciousness; vitamin B12 - increased blood clotting, increased heart rate; vitamin D2 - weakness, difficulty breathing, thirst, slow pulse, vomiting, fever, increased blood pressure; vitamin E - metabolic disorder, retinal hemorrhage, thrombophlebitis, renal failure, necrotizing colitis, hemorrhagic stroke.
Fortunately dangerous doses are quite high, and most of the vitamins are washed out of the body and excreted through the kidneys.

Sun

The sun gives us life and it also kills. The sun is especially dangerous for the white-skinned Scandinavian type. After 2-8 hours in the open sun, a person gets severe heatstroke. It manifests itself as weakness, headache, dizziness, tinnitus, then the temperature rises to 40-42C, nausea appears, pulse and breathing quicken, delirium begins, blood pressure decreases, loss of consciousness occurs...

Nicotine

Rats are very resistant to poisons, but they also die from 50 mg per kilogram of weight. For a person, 0.5-1 mg per 1 kg is enough. Therefore, the lethal dose for a person is approximately 94 cigarettes, which means after half a block in one sitting you will only need white slippers.

Salt

For rats, the lethal dose is 3 g per kg; for humans, the dose is 250 g. Fortunately, it is difficult to consume such an amount at the same time. But if he succeeds, he will be the first to jump arterial pressure in combination with severe edema. After all, every gram of sodium chloride retains 100 ml of fluid in the body. So the result will be pulmonary or cerebral edema, leading to death.

Caffeine

For rats, caffeine needs 192 mg per kilogram. For people, 150-200mg is needed depending on sensitivity. That is, at 75 kg it is enough to consume 15 grams of caffeine, which is approximately 4.5 liters of vigorous Italian espresso.

Water

You can also die from water, and we are not talking about drowning. According to experts, for every thousand calories you should consume a liter of water. City dwellers consume 2-2.5 thousand calories a day, which means they must drink 2-2.5 liters (of which about a liter comes with food). If instead of the prescribed 2 liters you drink 6-7, then water intoxication occurs. That is, the kidneys do not have time to remove water, the salt concentration drops, and water fills the intracellular environment. The result is pulmonary and cerebral edema and death.
So in 2007, KDND radio in Sacramento held the show “Don’t Pee - Distinguish.” The prize was a Nintendo Wii, and the condition for winning was to drink greatest number water without low tide. One of the finalists was Jennifer Strange (28 years old, three children). After the competition, she had a headache, she took time off from work, and in the morning she was found dead. Water intoxication occurred from drinking 7.5 liters of clean water at the show.

Electricity

Electricity, even domesticated electricity, is deadly. At just 0.01 amps, a person's hand can still be pulled away from the contact. If you put a piece of iron into a 220-volt outlet, you get a current discharge of 0.1-0.2 amperes. In just 1-3 seconds, breathing paralysis will occur, failure heart rate and death.
There is such an American (in 6 states) species death penalty- electric chair. In this case, a voltage of 1700-2400 volts is applied at a current of 6 amperes, with two discharges of 20-60 seconds each. Under such conditions, the condemned person loses consciousness within 1/240 of a second and dies almost instantly.
So Michael Anderson Goodwin was sentenced to death for murder. He waited for several years for the execution of the sentence; in 1989 it was appointed, but the court replaced death with life imprisonment. Soon Goodwin decided to start repairing the TV. True, for some reason I forgot to unplug it and sat down on the metal toilet. The sentence was carried out...

Mosquitoes

One female mosquito can suck approximately 0.005 ml (or 5 mg) with a body weight of 2.6 mg. On average, a person has 5-5.5 liters and 15% of them can be lost painlessly. But 2-2.5 liters is already a fatal loss. So if half a million mosquitoes attack you at once, then...
So mosquitoes are not terrible, but mosquito repellent can completely shorten your life!

In order to die, it is not necessary to be a victim of a murderer or a suicide, it is enough to consume a lethal dose of a substance. Any substance can be dangerous for a person, even water, which it actually consists of.

Alcohol

6-12 grams of alcohol per kilogram of human weight will be enough for the heart to stop. For an average man weighing 75 kg. - this is 0.67 liters of pure alcohol or 1.5 liters of vodka. However human body is quite unique and you are more likely to vomit than die.

In 2004, in Bulgaria (the city of Plovdiv), 9.4 ppm of alcohol was found in the blood of a man who was hit by a car. It is believed that 6 ppm is a lethal dose.

Sun

The sun can lead to skin defects, decreased sexual function and the development of other diseases. Bottom line: it is dangerous to stay in the open sun for a long time. So, for example, in order to die, it is enough to stay in the open sun without clothes for 8 hours.

Nicotine

Nicotine is not only in cigarettes, it is also in potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants, but there is not so much of it that it is fatally harmful. The lethal dose for humans is 0.5-1 mg. per 1 kg. weight. For the average person, this is 100 cigarettes at a time.

Without salt we will die, however daily dose- 1.5-4 grams, no more. Without salt, muscles will begin to die and heart function will be disrupted. A person can live absolutely without salt for 10 days. But if you eat 250 grams of salt at a time, the whole body will swell and the person will die - it will be long and painful.

Caffeine

It is found in coffee, tea, energy drinks and cola. Caffeine gives an instant boost of energy, although the body begins to consume it from its reserves, and after 3-4 hours you will be tired and want to sleep. 10 grams of caffeine will kill a person, that's about 4.5 liters of coffee.

In Springville, USA in 2004, a mother forced her daughter to drink 5 liters of water as punishment for some offense. The result is disastrous. And in 2007, radio station KDND (Sacramento, USA) held a campaign under the slogan “Don’t pee - get a game console.” One participant drank 7.5 liters of water and died 2 hours later. And the winner remained disabled for life. The company was successfully sued.

We present to your attention the Top 9 lethal doses of various easily accessible substances from which you can kick back.

1. ALCOHOL
lethal dose - 3 bottles of vodka in one
A ppm is a thousandth part of something, not necessarily alcohol. If we talk about the latter, then “1 ppm of alcohol in the blood” means that every liter of human blood contains 1 ml of pure alcohol. Pure alcohol is not vodka without a drink, but something speculative, stronger even than alcohol. So, 0.5 liters of vodka is approximately 200 ml of pure alcohol. Drank by a healthy 75-kilogram man, this half liter will turn into approximately 2.5 ppm, which qualifies as serious intoxication. The lethal concentration of alcohol in the blood is considered to be 5-6 ppm, that is, 400-450 ml of pure alcohol drunk. This is 1-1.25 liters of vodka (provided that the drinker does not vomit). Drink three bottles at once - and you're definitely done for.

2. MULTIVITAMINS
lethal dose -5000 tablets per day
Vitamins can also kill you. There is even such a concept - hypervitaminosis. For example, the consequences of an overdose of vitamin A: headache, dizziness, nausea, increased heart rate, loss of consciousness and convulsions. Vitamin B1: liver and kidney dysfunction. Vitamin B12: increased heart rate, increased coagulability blood. Vitamin D2: weakness, thirst, vomiting, fever, increased blood pressure, difficulty breathing, slow heart rate. Vitamin E: metabolic disorders, thrombophlebitis, necrotizing colitis, renal failure, hemorrhage in the retina of the eye, hemorrhagic stroke.

To be sure, you must take, of course, multivitamin complexes. To get a lethal dose of, for example, vitamins A and D, you will have to take up to 5,000 tablets. Moreover, in a short period of time, so that the body does not have time to remove them with urine. If you manage to overtake the kidneys, you will be finished.

3. SUN
lethal dose - 8 hours in the heat
One cloudless July day spent in the Egyptian sun without means of protection will be your last, pale-faced. It takes 2 to 8 hours for a person to suffer severe heatstroke. First, weakness, headache, dizziness, tinnitus, then - an increase in temperature to 40-42 ° C, nausea, increased heart rate and breathing, delirium, decreased blood pressure, loss of consciousness... The main thing is, when you feel unwell, do not go into the coolness and shade - and you're finished.

4. NICOTINE
lethal dose - 94 cigarettes at a time
Completely independent of nicotine and resistant to poisons, rats usually die from a dose of 50 mg of nicotine per kilogram of flesh. According to human studies, for you this figure is much lower and ranges from 0.5 to 1 mg per kilogram of weight. Therefore, a strong 75-kilogram man will definitely be killed by 75 mg of nicotine. If we consider that each classic “Java” cigarette contains 0.8 mg, then the lethal dose is 94 cigarettes. Half a block at a time and you're done.

In December 2004, a man was brought to a hospital in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv after being hit by a car. Since he smelled, to put it mildly, a breathalyzer was used, which showed 9.14 ppm. Convinced that the equipment was faulty, doctors ran five more different laboratory tests, each of which gave the same result. That is, in terms of regular strong Bulgarian alcohol, the victim (who, let’s say, weighed the same 75 kg) passed through at least 1.7 liters. He remained alive, by the way.

5. SALT
lethal dose - 250 g in one sitting
Tested again on rats: 3 g of salt per kilogram of weight is incompatible with life, that is, a quarter of a regular kilogram pack guarantees death. Another thing is how to eat these 250 g? If it works, the body will not survive the following. Due to an excess of salt in the blood, blood pressure will rise sharply (which is dangerous in itself), and this will be accompanied by severe edema (1 g of sodium chloride leads to 100 ml of fluid being retained in the body). Most likely, swelling of the brain and lungs will occur - and as a result, as you already know, you will be finished.

6. CAFFEINE
lethal dose -150 espresso in one gulp
If you trust the same rats, then the lethal dose of caffeine is 192 mg per rat kilogram. For a person, this figure, depending on his weight and individual sensitivity to caffeine, varies from 150 to 200 mg. So, if you weigh 75 kg, then 15 g of caffeine is definitely lethal for you. In a good espresso, which in its native Italy is more like a sip of adrenaline, a standard “shot” (30 ml) contains no less than 100 mg of caffeine. Order 150 cups (only 4.5 liters) - and you're done.

7. WATER
lethal dose - 8-10 liters per day
They say that every 1000 kilocalories eaten should be washed down with a liter of water. Average daily ration city ​​dweller - 2000-2500 kcal. A person receives about a liter of liquid from food. The wet residue contains 1.5-2 liters of water, daily norm healthy person. Too much 3-4 times can lead to so-called water poisoning, or water intoxication, a violation water-salt metabolism in organism.

Your kidneys simply won’t have time to remove everything you drink from your body, the salt concentration will drop, and water will begin to fill the intracellular environment. The result is swelling of the brain, lungs and... what else do you have? IN known to medicine cases of water poisoning fatal people drank at least 7 liters in less than 24 hours. Drain the cooler alone during the workday and you're done.

In January 2007, the Sacramento, California radio station KDND featured a Nintendo Wii console in its morning show.

The competition was called Hold Your Wee for a Wii (something like “Don't pee - excel”), and the participants in the studio had to drink as much water as possible without the opportunity to “go out”. Jennifer Strange, 28, a mother of three, was one of the finalists but did not win the prize. Later that day, she complained of a severe headache and even had to take time off from work. The next morning she was found dead - doctors declared death as a result of water intoxication. During the radio show, Jennifer drank about 7.5 liters of water.

8. ELECTRICITY
lethal dose - more than 0.1 ampere
An uncompromising option is the electric chair, which can still be found in at least six American states. Voltage - from 1700 to 2400 volts, current - up to 6 amperes (life-threatening - 0.1 amperes), two discharges lasting from 20 seconds to a minute each. If everything goes according to the regulations, the condemned person loses consciousness after 1/240 of a second and dies almost instantly.

Household electricity is also dangerous. All these scenes from films where an unlucky character is killed by throwing a hair dryer into his bath are true.

But there are a number of factors that must converge at the point of your contact with the exposed wire in order for you to be killed. Theoretically, taking wet hand a long nail and putting it into a regular 220-volt outlet, you will receive a current discharge of up to 0.1-0.2 amperes (and the maximum current strength at which a person is still able to independently tear his hand away from the contact is 0.01 amperes ). In 1-3 seconds, breathing paralysis will occur, heart failure will occur - and you will be finished.

American Michael Anderson Goodwin spent several years in a South Carolina state prison awaiting execution of a death sentence for premeditated murder. The execution by electric chair was scheduled to take place at the end of 1989. However, in March of the same year, the court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Shortly after this, Goodwin, sitting in his cell on a metal toilet, began to repair the TV that was plugged in and, touching a live wire, carried out the original sentence.

9. MOSQUITOES
lethal dose - 500,000 bites
A female mosquito, which weighs an average of 2.6 mg, can suck twice its weight in blood from you, that is, about 5 mg, or 0.005 ml. Blood is approximately 7% of the total body weight, 5-5.5 liters for the average man. A person can lose up to 15% of blood without harm to himself, but a one-time loss of 2-2.5 liters is considered fatal. Thus, if during a short walk through the summer forest you allow yourself to be bitten by half a million female mosquitoes, then you are definitely finished.

In our life, it is very important to observe moderation and proper concentration in everything. This was very accurately expressed by one of the founders modern pharmacology Paracelsus (1493 – 1541) in his famous phrase: “Everything is poison, everything is medicine; both are determined by the dose.” Absolutely every substance, even the most irreplaceable and necessary for the continuation of life, has its own lethal dose, which, moreover, is not so great.

(Total 9 photos)

1. Alcohol

Alcohol, of course, is not vital necessary product nutrition, but many people love to use it as such, often completely forgetting about any measure. A single lethal dose for a person ranges from 4 to 12 grams of pure alcohol per kilogram of weight. Also, for an adult male, a lethal concentration will be the presence of 5-6 ppm of ethanol in the blood (1 ppm of a substance means that 1 liter of liquid contains 1 ml of this substance). This concentration can be achieved by drinking about 3 bottles of vodka in one sitting (unless, of course, the body’s natural defense does not work in the form of an urgent release of excess toxic substance by all possible ways). But there are also funny cases. For example, in 2004, in a hospital in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, 9.14 ppm of ethanol was found in the blood of a pedestrian hit by a car. The test was repeated several times, and all the time a concentration was obtained that was many times higher than the lethal one. The most interesting thing is that the unusual patient soon recovered.

Despite its toxicity, ethanol can be used as an antidote for poisoning with other alcohols (for example, methanol or ethylene glycol).

2. Vitamins

Absolutely all vitamins essential for life are terrible poisons if consumed without measure. Sometimes both deficiency and excess of a particular vitamin lead to very similar external manifestations. For example, vitamin deficiency and hypervitaminosis of vitamin A will have dryness as a symptom, rough skin and increased hair loss. The amounts of vitamins in which they are essential are usually very small, and exceeding these concentrations leads to either acute or chronic poisoning. The doses in which vitamins can be taken must be indicated on the packaging of the drug, because in order to kill or seriously injure yourself, one or two pharmacy packages are enough.

3. Sunlight

After several years of regularly repeating “ abnormal heat“Even northern residents know how dangerous the Sun can be. From the beginning of the twentieth century until about the 80s, it was generally accepted that the more time you spend on exercise, the healthier you will be. But now it is already known for sure that excessive exposure to the Sun leads not only to purely external skin defects, but also to such “long-term” consequences as accelerated aging, decreased sexual function and development oncological diseases(insufficient exposure to the Sun is also fraught with exactly the same consequences).

Sunstroke is an extremely dangerous condition, it develops suddenly, and the mortality rate reaches 30%. Therefore, if a person begins to feel unwell while in the open sun, it is better to play it safe and try to go into the shade.

4. Nicotine

Nicotine is not only found in tobacco. There is quite a lot of it in potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and green bell peppers. True, the nicotine contained in these plants does not cause harm due to its insufficient concentration.
Nicotine is a powerful poison not only for all warm-blooded animals, but even for insects. Sensitivity to nicotine in different types animals are very different: for example, rats die when receiving 50 mg per kilogram of weight, mice need 5.9 mg, and for humans a dose of 0.5-1 mg per kilogram of weight is lethal (for comparison, the lethal dose of the famous potassium cyanide is 1 .7 mg per kilogram of weight). When smoking, most of the nicotine contained in a cigarette simply burns and turns into a less toxic poison. To kill yourself immediately, rather than gradually, you need to smoke about a hundred cigarettes in one sitting.

5. Table salt

Without salt, no living creature can live. But daily requirement of this substance is extremely small - only 1.5-4 g. If the body experiences a chronic lack of salt, then bone destruction and muscle death begin, the functioning of the heart and stomach is disrupted, severe depression develops, and others mental illness. Complete absence salt in food (although this situation rarely occurs) can kill in about 10 days.

Excess salt is no less dangerous than its deficiency. Everyone has known for a long time that “salt is white poison” when there is too much of it. For humans, the lethal dose is a single consumption of about 250 g of salt. Death will be very difficult, since you will have to die from numerous edemas.

Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, cola and many other plants. In small doses, it causes a surge of strength and a feeling of vigor, which, however, changes after 3-6 hours. increased fatigue, lethargy and depression. A lethal dose for a person is 10 grams of pure caffeine (provided that all of it enters the blood). That is, in order to be poisoned to death, for example, by good Italian espresso, you will need to not only drink about 4.5 liters of this excellent drink at a time, but also thoroughly absorb all the caffeine it contains.

Water is the basis of life. Everyone knows this. However, you can not only drown in water, you can also get poisoned by it, and it’s absolutely clean, drinking water if you drink too much. If too much water enters the body, a state of hyperhydration occurs, leading to disruption of water-salt metabolism, numerous disorders of all body systems and death. To achieve this state, you need to drink about 7 liters of water during the day.
Water poisoning is rare, but does happen sometimes. For example, soldiers become victims of water poisoning after grueling cross-country runs in the heat. But there are also funny cases - for example, the English schoolgirl Lee Bett in November 1995, celebrating her 18th birthday, first took Ecstasy and then drank 7 liters of water in just an hour and a half. Death occurred within 4 hours.

In June 2002, in the American city of Springville, a mother forced her 4-year-old daughter to drink almost 4 liters of water as punishment. The child died and the mother went to prison.

In January 2007, Sacramento, California radio station KDND ran a surprisingly stupid contest called Hold Your Wee for a Wii. One of the participants in this competition, Jennifer Strange, who drank 7.5 liters of water, died before reaching the final. And the winner of the competition (Lucy Davidson) became seriously ill. As a result, relatives filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the radio station and won them.

8. Electricity

There is no need to warn about the dangers of household electricity - almost everyone who uses electrical appliances sooner or later gets the opportunity to own experience learn that electrical discharge can be very unpleasant. Nowadays you can get a very painful electric shock without even using any devices. This happens especially often in winter, when the air in apartments is dry. central heating, and sparks fly from clothes and hair with every movement. If the strength of the current passing through the human body exceeds 1mA, then this already causes very discomfort. A direct current of 60 mA or an alternating current of 300-500 mA can lead to a malfunction of the heart (or restore the functioning of a heart that has just stopped).

To kill a person using the electric chair, a voltage of 2700 V and a current of 5 A are used. The voltage is turned on twice for about a minute with a break of 10 seconds. Usually this is enough to kill oneself strong man. But on October 16, 1985, it took 5 such blows to execute William Vendiver.

A female mosquito, if left undisturbed, can suck about 5 mg of blood from a person. For a person, a loss of about 2.5 liters of blood is fatal. It turns out that a person can be “bitten to death” by about half a million mosquitoes. But in this case, most likely, death will occur much earlier from a reaction to the mosquito saliva, which they inject during a bite (it is their saliva that causes itching, swelling and other reactions).

Poisons have been used from ancient times to the present day as weapons, antidotes, and even medicine.

In fact, poisons are all around us, in drinking water, in everyday objects and even our blood.

The word "poison" is used to describe any substance that may cause dangerous violation in organism.

Even in small quantity, the poison can lead to poisoning and death.

Here are some examples of some of the most insidious poisons that can be fatal to humans.

1. Botulinum toxin

Many poisons can be lethal in small doses, so it is quite difficult to single out the most dangerous one. However, many experts agree that botulinum toxin, which is used in Botox injections to smooth out wrinkles is the strongest.

Botulism is serious illness, leading to paralysis, caused by botulinum toxin, which is produced by bacteria Clostridium botulinum. This poison causes damage nervous system, respiratory arrest and death in terrible agony.

Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, double vision, facial weakness, speech impediments, difficulty swallowing and others. The bacterium can enter the body through food (usually bad canned food) and through open wounds.

2. Poison ricin

Ricin is natural poison which is obtained from castor beans castor bean plants. A few grains are enough to kill an adult. Ricin kills cells in the human body, preventing it from producing the proteins it needs, resulting in organ failure. A person can become poisoned by ricin through inhalation or ingestion.

If inhaled, symptoms of poisoning usually appear within 8 hours of exposure and include difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea, sweating and chest tightness.

If ingested, symptoms appear in less than 6 hours and include nausea and diarrhea (possibly bloody), low blood pressure, hallucinations and seizures. Death may occur within 36-72 hours.

3. Sarin gas

Sarin is one of the the most dangerous and deadly nerve gases, which is hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide. Sarin was originally produced as a pesticide, but the clear, odorless gas soon became a powerful chemical weapon.

A person can be poisoned by sarin gas by inhaling or exposing the gas to the eyes and skin. Initially, symptoms may appear such as runny nose and chest tightness, difficulty breathing and nausea.

Then the person loses control over all functions of his body and falls into a coma, convulsions and spasms occur until suffocation occurs.

4. Tetrodotoxin

This deadly poison found in the organs of fish of the genus pufferfish, from which the famous Japanese delicacy "fugu" is prepared. Tetrodotoxin persists in the skin, liver, intestines and other organs, even after the fish has been cooked.

This toxin causes paralysis, convulsions, mental disorder and other symptoms. Death occurs within 6 hours after ingestion of the poison.

Every year, several people are known to die painful deaths from tetrodotoxin poisoning after eating fugu.

5. Potassium cyanide

Potassium cyanide is one of the the fastest deadly poisons , known to mankind. It may be in the form of crystals and colorless gas with a bitter almond odor. Cyanide can be found in some foods and plants. It is found in cigarettes and is used to make plastic, photographs, extract gold from ore, and kill unwanted insects.

Cyanide has been used since ancient times, and in modern world it was a method of capital punishment. Poisoning can occur through inhalation, ingestion and even touching, causing symptoms such as convulsions, respiratory failure and in severe cases death, which may occur in a few minutes. It kills by binding to iron in blood cells, making them unable to carry oxygen.

6. Mercury and mercury poisoning

There are three forms of mercury that can be potentially hazardous: elemental, inorganic and organic. Elemental mercury, which found in mercury thermometers, old fillings and fluorescent lamps, non-toxic on contact, but may be fatal if inhaled.

Inhalation of mercury vapor (the metal quickly turns into a gas at room temperature) affects the lungs and brain, turning off the central nervous system.

Inorganic mercury, which is used to make batteries, can be fatal if ingested and cause kidney damage and other symptoms. Organic mercury found in fish and seafood is usually hazardous over long-term exposure. Symptoms of poisoning may include memory loss, blindness, seizures and others.

7. Strychnine and strychnine poisoning

Strychnine is an odorless, white, bitter crystalline powder that can be acquired by ingestion, inhalation, solution, and intravenous injection.

They receive it from the seeds of the chilibuha tree(Strychnos nux-vomica), native to India and South-East Asia. Although it is often used as a pesticide, it can also be found in narcotic substances such as heroin and cocaine.

The degree of strychnine poisoning depends on the amounts and route of entry into the body, but to cause serious condition, a small amount of this poison is enough. Symptoms of poisoning include muscle spasms, respiratory failure and even lead to brain death 30 minutes after exposure.

8. Arsenic and arsenic poisoning

Arsenic, which is the 33rd element in the periodic table, has been synonymous with poison since ancient times. It was often used as a poison of choice in political assassinations, as Arsenic poisoning resembled cholera symptoms.

Arsenic is considered heavy metal, whose properties are similar to those of lead and mercury. In high concentrations it can lead to symptoms of poisoning such as abdominal pain, seizures, coma and death. In small amounts, it can contribute to a number of diseases, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

9. Poison curare

Curare is a mixture of various South American plants that were used for poison arrows. Curare was used in medical purposes in highly dissolved form. The main poison is an alkaloid, which causes paralysis and death, as well as strychnine and hemlock. However, after paralysis occurs respiratory system, the heart can continue to beat.

Death from curare is slow and painful, as the victim remains conscious but cannot move or speak. However, if you apply artificial respiration before the poison settles, the person can be saved. Amazon tribes used curare to hunt animals, but the poisoned animal meat was not dangerous to those who consumed it.

10. Batrachotoxin

Fortunately, the chances of encountering this poison are very small. Batrachotoxin, found in the skin of tiny dart frogs, is one of the most powerful neurotoxins in the world.

Frogs themselves do not produce poison; it is accumulated from the foods they consume, mainly small bugs. The most dangerous content poison was discovered in a species of frog terrible leaf climber, living in Colombia.

One specimen contains enough batrachotoxin to kill two dozen people or several elephants. I affects nerves, especially around the heart, makes breathing difficult and quickly leads to death.