What is a poison?

            A poison is a toxic substance that is damaging to life. When taken in excess, it causes irritation, soreness, roughness or redness, vomiting, nausea etc. Sometimes it can cause internal injury, sickness or even death. Poisons may be natural substances produced by living things like animals or plants. They can also be artificially made from different chemicals. Some minerals are also poisonous.



            There are different types of poisons: corrosive, irritant, systematic, gas poisons and food poisons. 





            The corrosive poisons kill the living tissues. In case of human beings it may damage the lining of the mouth or throat. Sodium hydroxide, some acids and phenols, are examples of corrosive poisons.



           



            The irritant poisons cause swelling and soreness of the muscous membranes. They may also damage the stomach, intestines or nerve centres. Some medicines, when taken in excess dosage, can act as irritant poisons. Some other can, make the body bleed inside. 



            The systematic poisons attack the nervous system and other important organs such as the liver and the heart. For example small doses of prussic acid or strychnine can kill a person. Many barbiturates such as amobarbital, pentobarbital, phenobarbital etc. when taken in large doses, act as systematic poisons. Of the systematic poisons the boric acid, quinidine, chlorpromazine are poisons with high toxicity. Some of the other systematic poisons include chloracetophenone and arsenic compounds.



            The gas poisons may cause irritation to the eyes, nose or skin; difficulty in breathing; and even death. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, and some war gases are quite poisonous. In 1984, the leakage of a poisonous gas called Methyl Isocyanide (MIC) from a factory in Bhopal took the lives of more than 2,500 people.



            Food poisoning can result from consuming certain undesirable foods, chemicals or organisms. For example, chemicals such as insecticides, organisms such as hemblock and certain shellfish, some fungi such as toadstools are all undesirable food substances. Also stale meat or fish can become poisonous just like any other rotten food.



            But how do the poisons affect the body adversely? They mostly disrupt the works of the living cells. For example, the nerve gases stop the working of the nerves, potassium cyanide stops energy being released into the body, snake venoms destroy the red blood cells and some chemicals like acids, caustic soda and phenols simply dissolve any living thing they touch. Antidotes are widely used as drugs for the treatment of poison affected persons. Every poison is different in its basic character and hence in case of any suspected poisoning a physician should be consulted immediately.



 


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