Understanding Fast Poisons Essay -- Biology Toxic Papers

Understanding Fast Poisons Toxic chemicals are all around us. Some of the fastest acting toxic chemicals, though not necessarily deadly, are literally in our houses and backyards. Castor bean, daffodil and jonquil, lily-of-the-valley, foxglove, yew, holly and other cultivated plants can be found in many gardens. Poison ivy and pokeweed can be found along roadsides, fencelines, and in fields. Dumbcane, Euphorbia (crown of thorns, pointsettia), jade, wandering Jew and other plants also can be found in many homes. All of these plants and many more are toxic because of the chemicals they contain, yet we live with them safely. In many cases, scientists don't even know what the particular chemical is that is toxic. Plants are not the only source of toxic chemicals in the natural environment. Each year a number of people (particularly in Japan) are poisoned by eating pufferfish, which contains tetrodotoxin, or by ingesting saxitoxin (also known as paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) that is sometimes present in shellfish where Red Tide (an algae "bloom") has occurred. Other people end up in the hospital because they were stung by hornets or wasps, bitten by rattlesnakes or other venomous snakes around the world, or were bitten by venomous spiders. Toxic animals, amphibians, reptiles, insects and other living nonplant creatures are more common than people think. There are more than 1,000 known species of poisonous marine species, 375 venomous snakes around the world, an uncountable number of venomous spiders, and a wide assortment of creatures that become poisonous because of something they consume or make when they metabolize or break down chemicals they consume in their foods. The chemicals in these and other common living thing... ... monoxide is only one example of how one chemical gets into the body and causes a problem. Other chemicals reduce the availability of other elements necessary to the body and can cause problems ranging from mild and reversible to severe and deadly. Instead of decreasing the availability of certain necessary elements, some chemicals cause an increase in the availability and this also causes health problems. Often, the terms for toxicity used by the medical profession are named for the organs they affect such as the liver (heptatoxcicity), kidney (nephrotoxicity), and nervous system (neurotoxicity). Partly because different chemicals cause different responses in these and other organs, there are no simple explanations--no generalizations--for the effects of exposures and each must be examined individually. Reference: Calculated Risks by Joseph V. Rodricks (1992).