10 facts about poisons that will amaze you

We tend to think that poison is an element of Shakespearean drama, bursting from the pages of Agatha Christie's novels. But the truth is that death is all around us, in neat bottles under the kitchen sink, in our drinking water and in our blood. Below are the ten most insidious poisons in the world, some of which are exotic, others are common.

Despite its terrible fame, cyanide has a rich and fruitful history. Some scientists even believe that it may have been one of the chemicals responsible for life on earth. Today it is better known as the agent of death, the active ingredient in Zyklon-B, which the Nazis used to exterminate Jews in gas chambers.

Cyanide is a chemical used as capital punishment in the gas chambers of the United States. Those who come into contact with him say that he smells like sweet almonds. Cyanide kills by binding to iron in our blood cells, taking away their ability to carry oxygen throughout the body. In most US states, the use of a gas chamber was banned as an unnecessarily inhumane measure. Death can take several minutes, and it is often terrible to watch a convict struggle in an attempt to prevent death.

A solution of hydrogen fluoride in water, hydrofluoric acid, is used in a number of industries, such as metallurgy and even in the manufacture of Teflon. There are acids that are much more powerful than hydrofluoric acid, but few of them are dangerous to humans.

In gaseous form, this acid can easily burn the eyes and lungs, but in liquid form it is especially insidious. When exposed to human flesh, it initially does not bring pain. The fact that it doesn't hurt means that people can be in serious danger without even realizing it. It penetrates through the skin into the bloodstream, where it reacts with calcium in the body. In the worst case, it can seep through the tissue and destroy the main bones.

Fortunately for most of us, the chances of coming into contact with batrachotoxin are extremely small. One of the most powerful neurotoxins in the world, it is found on the skin of tiny poison dart frogs. Frogs do not produce poison by themselves, it is created from the food they eat, most likely from a species of tiny beetles.

There are several different versions depending on the species, but the most dangerous is the golden poisonous frog from Colombia. This little creature is small enough to fit on the tip of a finger, but there is enough batrachotoxin on one frog to kill about two dozen people or a couple of elephants. The toxin acts by affecting nerves, opening their sodium channels and causing paralysis, in fact, disabling the ability of the whole body to communicate with itself. There is no known antidote, and death comes very quickly.

Banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 (world stocks are gradually declining), VX is considered the most powerful nerve gas in the world. It was found quite accidentally in 1952 during chemical testing of organophosphates, and its danger was soon discovered. It originally went on sale as a pesticide called Amiton, but was withdrawn from sale because it was too dangerous for society. It soon attracted the attention of governments around the world, and since it was the time of the Cold War, it was stockpiled for potential use in the war. Fortunately, no one's hand wavered, and the VX was never used in combat.

A sectarian from the Japanese group Aum Shinrikyo managed to create some volume of this gas and use it to kill a person, but this is the only known death of a person from VX. The substance works by stopping the production of an enzyme in the nerves, as a result of constant activity there is a "storm" in the nervous system, which quickly overwhelms the body.

Manufactured by Dow Chemical and Monsanto (which makes up a short list of "evil" corporations in the world), and almost everyone has heard of the defoliant Orange Agent. It was used during the Vietnam War to destroy trees that covered enemy soldiers, and to destroy crops in rural areas.

Unfortunately, in addition to killing plants, the herbicide contains a chemical dioxin called TCDD, a known carcinogen that causes a significant increase in cancer cases, especially lymphoma. In addition, tens of thousands of Vietnamese children were either stillborn or with birth defects, including cleft palate, extra fingers and toes, and mental retardation. Vietnam remains very polluted to this day.

Produced from castor oil, ricin is one of the deadliest poisons. A dose the size of a few small grains of salt is enough to kill an adult. It acts by stopping the production of proteins in the body that are necessary for survival, and plunges the victim into shock.

Due to the ease of its production, ricin has been used as a weapon by many governments around the world, and was used at least once for murder when Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov was shot with a ricin pellet on the streets of London in 1978. It is believed that the Bulgarian secret police and/or the KGB are responsible for this murder.

Arsenic metalloid has been used for centuries for all industries, from weapon forging to makeup during the Victorian era (when ladies appreciated sickly pallor). In the dark ages, it became the duty poison of murderers all over the world due to the fact that the signs of arsenic poisoning resemble cholera, a common disease at that time. It acts by attacking the ATP enzyme in human cells, stopping the transfer of energy.

Arsenic is an unpleasant substance, and in strong concentrations it causes gastrointestinal disorders, seizures, coma and death. In small amounts constantly consumed (for example, from polluted groundwater), it provokes many diseases, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Lead is one of the first metals used by mankind, it was first smelted more than 8000 years ago. And until the last few decades, we really had no idea how dangerous it was. Lead attacks every organ in the human body, and thus poisoning manifests itself in a huge number of symptoms, ranging from diarrhea to mental retardation.

Children are especially susceptible: the poison causes permanent neurological disorders during fetal development. Oddly enough, many criminologists believe that the drop in the level of violent crimes occurred, at least in part, due to increased regulation of lead. Children born in the 1980s and later were significantly less exposed to lead, and as a result may be less prone to violence.

Immediately after the Second World War, brodifacum poison was used to protect against rodents (and also, oddly enough, as a blood-altering agent in people with clotting disorders). But rats are born to survive, so over time, many have developed resistance to brodifacum.

Brodifacum is an extremely dangerous anticoagulant that works by reducing the amount of vitamin K in the blood. Since vitamin K is necessary in the process of blood clotting, eventually massive internal bleeding develops in the body, blood seeps out of the smallest vessels. Brodifacum, which is sold under various brand names such as Havoc, Talon, and Jaguar, should be used carefully, as it can easily penetrate the skin and remains in the body for several months.

Mainly obtained from the seeds of the Strychnos nux-vomica tree in India and Southeast Asia, strychnine is an alkaloid substance used as a pesticide, especially for rodents. Death caused by strychnine is excruciating, as the neurotoxin affects the nerves of the spine, causing the body to distort and spasm when the muscles contract against their will.

Oskar Dirlewanger, a Nazi SS commander during World War II, administered it to prisoners and watched them convulse for his perverted entertainment. Strychnine is one of the few substances on this list that is cheap enough and is freely available: it is probably sold at a local store.