It is botulinum toxin, a protein produced by bacteria. Clostridium botulinumwhich causes botulism, a rare but potentially fatal food poisoning.
The deadly power of a poison is measured by the so-called “lethal dose 50” (LD50), which is the amount capable of killing, within 14 days, half of a population of animals used for testing.
In humans, the LD50 of botulinum toxin is only 0.4 nanograms per kilogram – one nanogram equals one billionth of a gram. That is, to annihilate a young man weighing 50 kilos, for example, it would take only a paltry 20 nanograms of the compound!
There are thousands of types of poison – which can be of animal, mineral, vegetable or laboratory-produced origin – and, throughout history, several have been used to kill.
Check out the list of the deadliest substances out there – and stay away from them!
The most lethal substances on the planet
8. CIANURIDE
Origin: Vegetables, such as cassava, or synthesized in the laboratory
Form of contamination: Ingestion or inhalation
Lethal dose*: 5 milligram/kg
Antidote: Sodium nitrite
Also called cyanide, this compound exists as a gas or powder. It destroys blood cells, causes respiratory arrest and weakens the central nervous system. After Germany’s defeat in World War II, many Nazi officers killed themselves by swallowing a cyanide capsule.
7. STRYCHNINE
Origin: Plant Strychnos nux vomica
Form of contamination: Ingestion, inhalation or skin contact
Lethal dose*: 2.3 milligram/kg
Antidote: It does not have. Intravenous diazepam relieves symptoms
Synthesized in the early 19th century, strychnine is a powder used as a pesticide to kill rats. Poisoning causes convulsions, muscle spasms and death by suffocation. Despite this, in the past it has been used as an anabolic steroid to increase muscle contractions in athletes!
6. SARIN
Origin: Synthesized in the laboratory
Form of contamination: Inhalation
Lethal dose*: 0.5 milligram/kg
Antidote: the medicine atropine
Created by the Nazis in 1939, sarin gas is one of the most powerful chemical weapons in existence. In contact with the organism, the poison weakens the muscles, causing cardiac and respiratory arrest. This was the gas used in an attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, which killed 12 people and injured another 5,000.
5. RICIN
Origin: Castor bean (ricinus communis)
Form of contamination: Ingestion or inhalation of the substance
Lethal dose*: 22 micrograms/kg
Antidote: It does not have
Considered the most lethal poison of plant origin, ricin is a protein isolated from castor bean seeds. Poisoning causes stomach pain, diarrhea, and bloody vomiting. One castor bean seed has enough ricin to kill a child. It is so lethal that it is even used in bioterrorist attacks.
4. DIPHTHERIA TOXIN
Origin: Bacillus Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Form of contamination: Droplets of saliva from the speech or sneezes of infected people
Lethal dose*: 100 nanograms/kg
Antidote: antihypertensive serum
The subject who becomes contaminated with this toxin suffers a lot from an acute infectious disease, diphtheria, which affects vital organs, such as the heart, liver and kidneys. There is a vaccine against diphtheria, but the lethality rate is still quite high, approaching 20%
3. SHIGA-TOXIN
Origin: Bacteria of the genera Shigella It is escherichia
Form of contamination: Ingestion of contaminated food or drink
Lethal dose*: 1 nanogram/kg
Antidote: It does not have. Symptoms are treated until the poison is expelled from the body
Intoxication causes diarrhea so severe that it can lead to death. The venom destroys the lining of the intestine, causing bleeding and preventing water absorption. The person becomes dehydrated and poops with blood. If untreated, kills 10% of those affected
2. TETANUS TOXIN
Origin: Bacterium Clostridium tetani
Form of contamination: Contact of bacterial spores with skin wounds
Lethal dose*: 1 nanogram/kg
Antidote: tetanus serum
This is the toxin that causes tetanus, a disease that attacks the nervous system causing muscle spasms, difficulty in swallowing, abdominal muscle rigidity and tachycardia. It is estimated that 300,000 people are contaminated with the poison per year in the world – of this total, half die!
1. BOTULINUM TOXIN
Origin: Bacterium Clostridium botulinum
Form of contamination: Inhalation or ingestion of contaminated water or food
Lethal dose*: 0.4 nanogram/kg
Antidote: equine trivalent antitoxin
Ten thousand times more potent than snake venom, this toxin acts on the neurological system, causing paralysis of the respiratory muscles and death. Interestingly, in small doses, this substance is used in aesthetic treatments to soften wrinkles – it is the famous Botox
*lethal dose if the animals had the same biological constitution as humans
CONSULTANCY Cyro Hauaji Zacarias, biomedical doctor, toxicology consultant and Master’s student at the University of São Paulo (USP)