Today we present to you some of the most toxic substances found on Earth.
Number one is extremely dangerous, but deliberately taken in by millions of people worldwide!
Number 9: Rhodium Rhodium is a chemically inert metal of the
platinum group that is extremely rare, and valued as a precious metal.
Due to its high value and resistance to corrosion, the element is usually alloyed with other
precious metals to be served as metal plating.
White gold for example, is often plated with a rhodium layer, giving it its beautiful and
shiny appearance.
Although pure rhodium is chemically inactive, its chemical complexes can be reactive and
harmful.
At high levels, it is considered immediately lethal, and early symptoms of rhodium chemical
poisoning include severe cough, eye redness, and itchy skin rashes.
Workers in jewelry manufacturing in particular can be exposed to the element through inhalation,
causing a rather serious occupational hazard.
Number 8: Ricin Ricin is one of nature's deadliest substances
that is found in plants instead of animals.
It is a naturally occurring carbohydrate-binding protein that is produced in the beans of a
castor oil plant.
The toxic substance has the ability to inactivate and wreak havoc on ribosomes within our cells,
resulting in impaired ability to further synthesize proteins.
Just a mere 500 micrograms of ricin is enough to kill an adult human.
To put that into perspective, that's about one per 2000th of the weight of a paperclip.
Most cases of acute ricin poisoning are the result of ingestion of castor beans.
However, unless the beans were thoroughly chewed, most people could survive the poisoning.
Symptoms include nausea, watery diarrhea, tachycardia, hypotension, and seizures that
usually last for days.
Dangerous when inhaled, ingested and injected in small amounts, ricin's potency and lethality
has led to many countries studying its use as a biological weapon for the past century.
The castor oil plant itself is a rather popular ornamental shrub, and the ease of extracting
its toxin has made ricin a poison of choice for many assassins.
In 1978, a Bulgarian communist defector working for the BBC was assassinated in the streets
of London via a micro-engineered pellet containing ricin.
The pellet was shot from an umbrella carried by an assassin believed to be working for
the Bulgarian secret police.
Number 7: Strychnine Strychnine is an alkaloid found in the plants
of the genus Strychnos, which are native to many tropical countries.
However, the substance could now also be produced artificially in labs.
Strychnine acts as a neurotoxin that primarily affects the motor nerves in the spinal cord.
Exposure to it would cause a chemical in the nerves that regulates muscle contraction to
be blocked, causing the muscles to be in a constant state of stimulation.
A victim could be affected by strychnine by inhalation, ingestion, or even by absorbing
it through the eyes.
Once it enters the bloodstream, their muscles would contract violently, causing extreme
agitation, and a rather gruesomely agonizing death.
Typically there would be seizures, bulging of the eyes, and arching of the back, and
within 30 minutes the victim would be dead from asphyxia.
Ruthless Nazi leader Oskar Dirlewanger was known to inject young Jewish female prisoners
with strychnine for entertainment, and watched as they writhed and twisted to death in front
of him and his friends.
It is also suggested that Alexander the Great may have been killed by strychnine from contaminated
wine that he drank.
Number 6: Arsenic Arsenic is a metalloid that usually exists
in combination with other metals and elements, although it can exist as a pure elemental
crystal.
Arsenic has many useful applications, such as being alloyed with lead to create components
in automotive batteries and ammunition.
It also happens to be a very toxic substance, so are used as components for pesticides and
weed killers.
And like any other potent poison, arsenic is capable of causing serious harm and even
death to men.
What arsenic does to the body is attack the ATP enzymes responsible for cellular energy
production, and this in turn leads to vomiting, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea.
A longer period of exposure will lead to worse symptoms which include thickening and darkening
of the skin, heart disease, cancer, and eventually death.
The most common cause for arsenic exposure around the world is contamination of water
supply, either naturally, or the result of industrial and agricultural activity.
Throughout the Middle Ages and in Renaissance Italy, arsenic poisoning was a favorable method
for murder due to its symptoms that are difficult to distinguish from cholera, a rather common
disease during those times.
During Korea's Josean era, a poison cocktail composed of arsenic was used as capital punishment
for high profile figures and members of royalty.
Number 5: Mercury It shouldn't be news that those shiny silvery
liquids you find in thermometers are poisonous.
Compounds of the chemical element mercury are highly lethal, even through skin contact.
A chemist professor named Karen Wetterhahn died in 1997 due to accidental exposure to
organic mercury during an experiment, even though it was only a few drops that spilt
onto her latex gloved hand.
Toxicity of the metallic element is due to its ability to inhibit enzymes that restore
the body's antioxidants.
So a victim of mercury poisoning would become highly vulnerable to oxidative damage, resulting
in brain cell dysfunctions.
In time, this would lead to dementia and ultimately death.
The English phrase "mad as a hatter" is said to originate from reported cases of hat makers
going insane after prolonged exposure to mercury, a substance that they used heavily in the
hat making trade.
Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China died of mercury poisoning in 220 BC
after repeatedly ingesting mercury pills that he ironically believed could prolong his life.
Number 4: Tetrodotoxin Fugu is a rare and exotic Japanese puffer
fish dish that is popular among thrill seeking diners.
The catch of tasting this delicious cuisine is that it might be your last meal if the
chef makes the slightest mistake in preparing it.
Puffer fish is one of several sea creatures that harbor a deadly substance called tetrodotoxin
inside its organs.
What the toxin does is selectively block sodium channels at nerve endings, causing muscle
paralysis.
A person unlucky enough to ingest it would suffer from general paralysis of the entire
body and subsequent death from respiratory failure.
Although completely paralyzed, the victim can sometimes remain conscious and lucid for
hours, with nothing to do but wait for their impending death.
Currently there is no antidote for tetrodotoxin, and victims can only be managed through supportive
therapy based on their symptoms.
Japanese chefs require special training and a certified license to serve puffer fish fugu,
as each of the creatures poisonous organs have to be removed thoroughly.
However, mishaps still happen and around 200 people get poisoned each year, with half of
them not surviving.
Still, the notorious dish remains a celebrated national cuisine in Japan.
Number 3: Cyanide Cyanide is probably one of the world’s most
well known poisons, and is capable of killing victims in a matter of minutes.
Because of its efficacy, it is a popular and favorite killing tool by both real life and
fictional killers.
Chemically speaking, cyanide is a carbon atom triple bonded to a nitrogen atom.
What makes it such a fast killer is that it quickly binds to the mitochondria in living
cells, which are basically the cells' power plant.
This causes asphyxia at a cellular level, and death occurs fast as vital organs like
the brain and heart get deprived of oxygen.
It's true that some fruits and nuts contain cyanide, albeit at a very low level.
Apple seeds for example, would release cyanide once it reacts to our digestive enzymes, though
it would require an entire bowl of seeds to reach a lethal dose.
Still, it's a good idea to stay away from digesting any amount of apple seeds altogether.
Applications of cyanide in real life include industrial uses in gold and silver mining,
as well as pest control.
During World War II, the Nazis used Zyklon B, a cyanide based pesticide invented by the
Germans as a chemical gas to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
Number 2: Sarin In 1938, German scientists discovered an extremely
toxic liquid while trying to create strong pesticides.
It was a nerve agent of high potency that they named Sarin, which was an acronym for
the names of the discoverers.
When the Second World War broke out the following year, the sarin formula was passed to the
Nazi army's chemical warfare section to be mass produced.
As a nerve gas, sarin was found to be 26 times more lethal than cyanide.
Another thing that makes it so dangerous is the fact that it’s physically undetectable,
as it is both colorless and tasteless.
Once inhaled, sarin acts at nerve synapses by inhibiting the breakdown of the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine, causing it to accumulate.
The abundance of acetylcholine triggers an uncontrollable secretion of body fluids in
the form of tears, runny nose, drooling, vomiting, defecation, and urination.
Ultimately, the victims would go into a series of muscle spasms and suffocate to death.
Due to its severe effects, the use of sarin in battle is considered a war crime by the
International Court of Justice, and was globally banned in 1993.
Previously the gas was famously used multiple times by Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein's
orders during their war against Iran in the 80s.
In 1995, the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo conducted a series of domestic terrorism attacks
in the Tokyo Subway by releasing sarin gas, killing 12 people and harming hundreds of
others.
Number 1: The Botulinum Toxin The most toxic substance known to man is probably
the very same substance that is injected into peoples' faces to remove wrinkles.
We are talking about Botox, or rather, its unpurified form known as botulinum toxin.
Just 1 gram is enough to kill 14,000 people if swallowed, or 8.3 million if injected directly
into the bloodstream.
The deadly neurotoxin is produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria.
It causes botulism, a rather rare but serious illness mainly transmitted through contaminated
canned food.
What it specifically does is block the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from
nerve endings, causing a state of generalized paralysis due to impaired communications between
muscle and nerve cells.
This could be life threatening, as all muscles could be affected including the respiratory
muscles responsible for our breathing.
But as we know, Botulinum is not without medical benefits.
Extremely small and purified doses can be used to treat muscle spasms and excessive
sweating, as well as used cosmetically to paralyze facial muscles that cause wrinkles.
Quite recently, a new variation named Botulinum toxin type H was discovered by scientists
in 2013.
This strain is considered ultra lethal, capable of killing a person at a dose of just 2 nanograms.
Since it is deemed so dangerous, its genetic sequence has been kept a secret until an antitoxin
could be developed.