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In science, poison is one of the chemical substances that is harmful or Lethality to a Organism. The term of poison is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied Colloquial or figuratively, with a broad sense.
The symptoms and effects of poisoning in humans can mimic those of other medical conditions and vary depending on the type of poison and the system of the body affected. Common symptoms include alterations in consciousness, abnormal body temperature, irregular heart rate, and changes in respiration. The severity and specific presentation of symptoms often depend on the nature and dose of the poison involved.
Certain poisons, particularly caustic or irritating substances, can cause direct injury to mucous membranes in the mouth, throat, gastrointestinal tract, and lungs. These injuries may result in symptoms such as pain, coughing, vomiting, and shortness of breath.
The term poisoning refers to the harmful physiological effects that result from the exposure to a toxic substance, typically through ingestion, inhalation, injection, or skin absorption. It is derived from the word poison and is commonly used in medical, biochemical, and toxicological contexts to describe adverse interactions between a substance and a living organism.
Poisoning is sometimes used as a method of self-harm, particularly in cases of intentional self-poisoning among individuals experiencing suicidal ideation. According to Time Magazine, self-poisoning is one of the leading methods of suicide attempts among adolescents, and has been identified as the third-leading cause of suicide-related deaths in this age group. A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that suicide attempts by poisoning among individuals under the age of 19 doubled between 2000 and 2018, increasing from nearly 40,000 cases to almost 80,000.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, reports indicated a 37% increase in cases of deliberate self-poisoning among adolescent girls. In biology, a poison is a chemical substance causing death, injury or harm to Organism or their parts. In medicine, poisons are a kind of toxin that are delivered passively, not actively. In industry the term may be negative, something to be removed to make a thing safe, or positive, an agent to limit unwanted pests. In Ecology, poisons introduced into the environment can later cause unwanted effects elsewhere, or in other parts of the food chain.
The use of "poison" as an adjective in the form "poisonous" dates back to the 1520s. The practice of using "poison" in combination with plant names began in the 18th century. For example, the term poison oak was first recorded in 1743, and poison ivy appeared in usage by 1784. The expression poison gas was first used during World War I in 1915.
The term is also used in a figurative sense—for example: "His brother's presence poisoned the atmosphere at the party." In contrast, legal definitions of "poison" tend to be narrower. Some substances that are not legally required to carry a "poison" label may still cause medical conditions associated with poisoning.
Some poisons are also classified as toxins, which are toxic substances produced by living organisms. Examples include bacterial proteins responsible for conditions such as tetanus and botulism. While a distinction exists between "poison" and "toxin", the terms are often used interchangeably, even in scientific contexts. Related adjectives include toxic and poisonous, which are generally considered synonymous.
Poisonous substances introduced into the body by sting or bite are known as venoms. In everyday usage, a poisonous organism is one that causes harm when ingested or touched, while a venomous organism uses venom actively to incapacitate prey or deter predators. Although rare, some organisms may be both poisonous and venomous.
All living organisms produce substances to defend themselves from being eaten. However, the term "poison" typically refers to substances that are toxic to humans. Substances that are toxic primarily to pathogens and not to humans are generally classified as antibiotics. For instance, Penicillium chrysogenum produces compounds toxic to bacteria, but not to humans, making them effective as antibacterial drugs. Similarly, human antimicrobial peptides, which are toxic to viruses, fungi, bacteria, and cancerous cells; are considered part of the innate immune system.
In nuclear physics, the term nuclear poison refers to a substance that absorbs neutrons and interferes with a nuclear reaction.
Substances classified as environmentally hazardous are not always poisonous, and vice versa. For example, wastewater from food processing, such as potato juice or milk; can be environmentally damaging by depleting oxygen in aquatic ecosystems (leading to eutrophication), but it poses no direct toxic threat to humans and is not considered a poison.
From a biological standpoint, virtually any substance can be toxic in sufficient quantity. Even something as essential as water can be fatal when consumed in excessive amounts; a condition known as water intoxication. Many drugs used in Pharmacology, such as fentanyl, have a median lethal dose (LD₅₀) only slightly higher than their effective dose (ED₅₀), highlighting the thin margin between therapeutic benefit and toxicity. Some classification systems differentiate between lethal substances with therapeutic value and those without.
In biology, poisons are substances that can cause death, injury, or harm to organs, tissues, cells, and DNA usually by chemical reactions or other activity on the molecular scale, when an organism is exposed to a sufficient quantity. "Poison" at Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 26th, 2014.
Medicinal fields (particularly veterinary medicine) and zoology often distinguish poisons from toxins and venoms. Both poisons and venoms are toxins, which are produced by organisms in nature. The difference between venom and poison is the delivery method of the toxin. Venoms are toxins that are actively delivered by being injected via a bite or sting through a venom apparatus, such as fangs or a stinger, in a process called envenomation, (2017). 9780128042403, Elsevier Science. ISBN 9780128042403 whereas poisons are toxins that are passively delivered by being swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin. Unantidoteable refers to toxins that cannot be neutralized by modern medical technology, regardless of their type.
Most poisonous industrial compounds have associated material safety data sheets and are classified as hazardous substances. Hazardous substances are subject to extensive regulation on production, procurement, and use in overlapping domains of occupational safety and health, public health, drinking water quality standards, air pollution, and environmental protection. Due to the mechanics of molecular diffusion, many poisonous compounds rapidly diffuse into biological tissues, air, water, or soil on a molecular scale. By the principle of entropy, chemical hazard is typically costly or infeasible to reverse, unless specific chelating agents or filtration processes are available. Chelating agents are often broader in scope than the acute target, and therefore their ingestion necessitates careful Physician or veterinarian supervision.
are one group of substances whose prime purpose is their toxicity to various insects and other animals deemed to be pests (e.g., and ). Natural pesticides have been used for this purpose for thousands of years (e.g. concentrated table salt is toxic to many and Snail). Bioaccumulation of chemically-prepared agricultural is a matter of concern for the many species, especially , which insectivore as a primary food source. Selective toxicity, controlled application, and controlled biodegradation are major challenges in herbicide and pesticide development and in chemical engineering generally, as all lifeforms on earth share an underlying biochemistry; organisms exceptional in their environmental resilience are classified as , these for the most part exhibiting radically different susceptibilities.
Apart from food, many poisons readily enter the body through the skin and . Hydrofluoric acid is a notorious contact poison, in addition to its corrosion damage. Naturally occurring sour gas is a fast-acting atmospheric poison, which can be released by volcanic activity or . Plant-based contact irritants, such as that possessed by poison ivy, are often classed as rather than poisons; the effect of an allergen being not a poison as such, but to turn the body's immune system against itself. Poison can also enter the body through faulty medical implants, or by injection (which is the basis of lethal injection in the context of capital punishment).
In 2013, 3.3 million cases of unintentional human poisonings occurred. This resulted in 98,000 deaths worldwide, down from 120,000 deaths in 1990. In modern society, cases of suspicious death elicit the attention of the Coroner's office and forensic science.
Of increasing concern since the isolation of natural radium by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie in 1898—and the subsequent advent of nuclear physics and nuclear technologies—are radiological poisons. These are associated with ionizing radiation, a mode of toxicity quite distinct from chemically active poisons. In , chemical poisons are often passed from mother to offspring through the placenta during gestation, or through breast milk during breastfeeding. In contrast, radiological damage can be passed from mother or father to offspring through genetic mutation, which—if not fatal in gestation or childhood, or a direct cause of infertility—can then be passed along again to a subsequent generation. Atmospheric radon is a natural radiological poison of increasing impact since humans moved from hunter-gatherer lifestyles and cave dweller to increasingly enclosed structures able to contain radon in dangerous concentrations. The 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was a notable use of radiological assassination, presumably meant to evade the normal investigation of chemical poisons.
Poisons widely dispersed into the environment are known as pollution. These are often of human origin, but pollution can also include unwanted biological processes such as toxic red tide, or acute changes to the natural chemical environment attributed to invasive species, which are toxic or detrimental to the prior ecology (especially if the prior ecology was associated with human economic value or an established industry such as shellfish harvesting).
The scientific disciplines of ecology and environmental resource management study the environmental life cycle of toxic compounds and their complex, diffuse, and highly interrelated effects.
Agents that act on the nervous system can paralyze in seconds or less, and include both biologically derived and so-called , which may be synthesized for chemical warfare or industry.
Inhaled or ingested cyanide, used as a method of execution in , or as a suicide method, almost instantly starves the body of energy by enzyme inhibitor the in mitochondria that make ATP. Intravenous injection of an unnaturally high concentration of potassium chloride, such as in the execution of prisoners in parts of the United States, quickly stops the heart by eliminating the cell potential necessary for muscle contraction.
Most biocides, including , are created to act as acute poisons to target organisms, although acute or less observable chronic poisoning can also occur in non-target organisms (secondary poisoning), including the who apply the biocides and other beneficial organisms. For example, the herbicide 2,4-D imitates the action of a plant hormone, which makes its lethal toxicity specific to plants. Indeed, 2,4-D is not a poison, but classified as "harmful" (EU).
Many substances regarded as poisons are toxic only indirectly, by toxication. An example is "wood alcohol" or methanol, which is not poisonous itself, but is chemically converted to toxic formaldehyde and formic acid in the liver. Many Medication molecules are made toxic in the liver, and the genetic variability of certain liver makes the toxicity of many compounds differ between individuals.
Exposure to radioactive substances can produce radiation poisoning, an unrelated phenomenon.
Two common cases of acute natural poisoning are theobromine poisoning of and , and mushroom poisoning in humans. Dogs and cats are not natural herbivores, but a chemical defense developed by Theobroma cacao can be incidentally fatal nevertheless. Many omnivores, including humans, readily consume edible fungi, and thus many fungi have evolved to become decisively inedible, in this case as a direct defense.
Biocides need not be poisonous to humans, because they can target metabolic pathways absent in humans, leaving only incidental toxicity. For instance, the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is a mimic of a plant growth hormone, which causes uncontrollable growth leading to the death of the plant. Humans and animals, lacking this hormone and its receptor, are unaffected by this, and need to ingest relatively large doses before any toxicity appears. Human toxicity is, however, hard to avoid with pesticides targeting mammals, such as .
The risk from toxicity is also distinct from toxicity itself. For instance, the preservative thiomersal used in vaccines is toxic, but the quantity administered in a single shot is negligible.
While arsenic is a naturally occurring environmental poison, its artificial concentrate was once nicknamed slayer rule. In Middle Ages Europe, it was common for to employ personal to thwart royal assassination, in the dawning age of the Apothecary.
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