When a poison doesn't kill; lethal dose

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2 years ago
Topics: Toxic, Poison, Lethal

Howdy folks, how was your Sunday? Mine was very quiet and boring, and that's because most of my classmates aren't around. We are still battling with electricity and water supply issues over here, I had to go out to get water from another house which I used to take my bath, do laundry and cook.

I didn't actually know what topic to write on today but luckily while I was interacting on some articles earlier today, I came across something on FarmGirl article and it gave me an idea.

You know, they aren't wrong with the above statement, there's a certain level something has to get to before it can kill you and how do I come to know this? Because I have heard of someone that tried to commit suicide by using a poisonous substance but she didn't die, because she didn't take enough of it.

The poison I am talking about is something popular in my country, it's called sniper and it's specifically meant for killing pests (cockroaches, ticks, weevils, and ironically; humans). But these days, it is no longer the go-to pesticide for taking care of pests, it's now the favorite cocktail of suicidal victims.

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The funny thing with sniper is that it doesn't kill instantly as most people thought. They think they just have to drink it and immediately it's lights out, but it's far from that, it kills slowly and it might take up to an hour before the person dies.

Within minutes of taking sniper, the person starts experiencing severe pains and burning, the substance starts slowly burning vital organs from the inside and the person will suffer through that pain until they eventually die.

Seeing the way sniper kills, it's certainly a very dangerous substance but it has a lethal dose; the point where it can kill. Taking a small amount of sniper won't kill you, but how small is small? (Please don't try to find out 😆). Let me shock you a bit; many of us have unknowingly taken sniper at one point or the other, and how do I know? Because it's used to preserve beans!

Some farmers use sniper to preserve beans so that weevils don't get into them, this is the same beans we end up cooking. That's why it's recommended to parboil beans first, completely drain the water and then add clean water to reduce the amount of sniper in it.

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But some persons don't even parboil their beans, they just cook it straight up till it's ready to be eaten, and while the amount of sniper at that point is too small to cause any immediate effect, it does accumulate in the body and will certainly lead to a problem in the future.

Back to the little thing I said from the start about a girl not dying after ingesting sniper, her roommate found her wriggling in pain with a bottle of sniper close to her and she was quickly rushed to the hospital. The doctors in the hospital were able to flush out the substance from her system and they said she was very lucky because she didn't take a lethal amount of the substance.

Do you know that water can be toxic? I came across it while researching about toxicity and poisons earlier today, but am I surprised by that piece of info? Of course not. It got me wondering, what then isn't toxic? According to the grandfather of toxicology, Paracelsus, "everything is poisonous or not, according to the dose"

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What this means is that everything has a lethal level; it doesn't kill you because you're taking in just the right amount but if you go above the threshold, well, you know the rest. This brings us back to the popular saying; "too much of everything is bad", and yes, too much water can kill you.

The lethal dose of a substance is calculated according to the weight of an individual, this simply means that something that might be lethal for Peter might not kill Paul. Take for example, water has a lethal dose of 6 liters for a person weighing around 165 pounds, but a person weighing around 200 pounds might be able to drink that amount and still live.

I have been using sniper as an example but lethal dose is also seen in cyanide but this one is very tricky because a very small dose of cyanide can cause instant death. Unlike water that needs about 6 liters to kill a 165 pounds human, a smaller dose of cyanide can lead to instant death because it directly attacks the enzymes that process oxygen in the body.

But do you know that this same cyanide is present in some of our food items? Food items such as lettuce, sweet potatoes, maize, almond, cassava, and kidney beans contain a very small amount of cyanide but the body can handle such small amounts, it's when it gets to a certain level (about 50 to 200mg) then you will know you're in trouble, but that is very unlikely unless you're planning on eating raw cassava roots 😆


Conclusion

Toxic substances are all around us and we sometimes mistakenly ingest them but we are usually safe from them because of the little amount we take into our body, but it's still much better to stay away from all known toxic substances.

As the grandfather of toxicology has said, everything is poisonous or not, it all depends on the dose, but how will you know the lethal dose? It's better not to find out and just stay safe 😉

Thanks for reading

Sunday January 16, 2022

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Avatar for Kushyzee
2 years ago
Topics: Toxic, Poison, Lethal

Comments

everything is poisonous or not, it all depends on the dose, but how will you know the lethal dose? Basically everything we know is poisonous

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2 years ago

Glad you got some inspiration from that post hehe. And you are right, toxicity is everywhere, on the food we consume and even people we spend time with, lol!

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2 years ago

😂 that last line is definitely true and funny, toxicity exist in humans as well

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2 years ago

Hahaha, I am glad you caught some humor from it :D

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2 years ago

This reminds me of a word called "addiction". Moderation is always adviced. I was very shocked the day I was informed that sniper was used to preserve beans. This is so wrong, beans can be preserved for a long time without gwtrng spoilt if it is stored in jerrycans ... By the way, sniper doesn't need advert, " e dey work well well " ☺

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2 years ago

Sniper isn't even the only thing that is used to preserve beans, back in the days they even use gamalin20, that's the elder brother of sniper. These days they use sniper and some other harmful chemicals, na only God dey help person sha

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2 years ago

Even too much of the good stuff kills. I have read that drinking too much water can kill one. Not to mention sugar, and the so-called alcohol people enjoy

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2 years ago

Exactly, even the good stuffs can become poison at a certain level

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2 years ago

And this is why we go what that common saying "disease no dey kill African man". It's better not to know somethings cos if we do, we'll checking and balancing everything that comes out way. I'm among those that boil beans straight without draining the first water out 🥱

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2 years ago

Better stop o 🌚 I used to do that before until I learnt about the different chemicals used in preserving beans. It might not affect you now, but it will in the future as it keeps accumulating in your body

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2 years ago

It's the reason we need to wash it carefully especially the food we eat. It's better to be advance and always be in safety. Always mind our health. Work always with cleanliness. Do our task and applied always the cleanliness. Thank you for this kushyzee. I learned something new today.

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2 years ago

I am glad you learnt something new from my article, you're welcome Ramona 😊

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2 years ago

Woah I don't have any idea that there is cyanide on it. Thanks for sharing this one. A relief because my mom always wash foods before putting it on refrigerator or cooking it.

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2 years ago

Washing also helps to reduce the amount of cyanide in a food, and cooking your foods properly will reduce the effects very well

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2 years ago

Oh, thanks for that health tip Kushyzee! Now I gonna start doing that before cooking

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2 years ago

You're welcome 🤗

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2 years ago

Reading this, I remember way back then when my aunt told us that day by day as we eat those foods like vegetables/fruits that we bought in the market, we are slowly harming ourselves because those vegatables and fruits had undergo lots of pesticides just to maintain it's quality. That's why she advices us that before cooking them, we should wash them properly.

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2 years ago

Exactly, even vegetables aren't safe from pesticides and it's better to properly wash them before use, so as to reduce the amount of chemicals in it

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2 years ago

That's right and I hope everyone will be aware with it

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2 years ago

Hmm.. I just knew beans are preserved with sniper oo. I should start parboiling my beans then. These days I see it as a waste of time. Thanks for the info @Kushyzee.

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2 years ago

Not all farmers do that, but there are a few bad heads that do it and you won't even know, so it's better to be safe than sorry

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2 years ago

It's really new thing for me. even i don't know about this. But thanks to you for share this.

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2 years ago

You're welcome Mazekin 😊

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2 years ago

So those starchy food have cyanides? I don't know about it.. I even like eating raw lettuce..

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2 years ago

The amount of cyanide it contains is very small and the body can easily detoxify it

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2 years ago

I didn't know it was used to preserve beans but I always parboil and change the water, I can't cook it any other way

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2 years ago

It's not a very popular practice and it is generally frowned upon but some farmers spray it on beans to prevent infestation of weevils

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2 years ago

Alright

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2 years ago

Sniper I dangerous. I was never made to be consumed but as pesticides. I wonder why people would want to terminate their life for whatever reason.sad!🤒

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2 years ago

Depression can make people take their life, we wouldn't know how it feels probably because we haven't gotten to that point in life

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2 years ago

Even though the topic is a little crazy, every bit of knowledge might be needed one day, hehe.

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2 years ago

It's something we tend to ignore because it's small, but it's the little things like this that really matters

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2 years ago