Biotoxins
Everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage - Jane Smiley
image by: Oregon Department of Agriculture
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There’s Toxicity, And There’s Toxicity
A baby-aspirin-size amount of powdered toxin is enough to make the global supply of Botox for a year. That little bit is derived from a larger primary source, which is locked down somewhere in the continental U.S.—no one who isn’t on a carefully guarded list of government and company officials knows exactly where. Occasionally (the company won’t say how frequently), some of the toxin (the company won’t say how much) is shipped in secrecy to the lab in Irvine for research. Even less frequently, a bit of the toxin is transported by private jet, with guards aboard, to the plant in Ireland.
Now, all drugs have biological activity, or they wouldn't be drugs. But some of them are definitely…
Resources
Is Botox as safe as we think it is?
New research suggests that the popular treatment for wrinkles might not stay put when injected into the body.
Biotoxins - Myths and Misconceptions
What do you know about biotoxins? Does your knowledge contain myths? Misconceptions? Some common beliefs are listed here...and not all of them are true.
Mysterious Symptoms? Biotoxins Could Be to Blame
If you’ve been struggling with mysterious symptoms and having a hard time pinpointing the root cause of seemingly unrelated health issues, you should consider biotoxins. Biotoxins can come from insect bites, mold growing in your home, and many other sources.
Toxins of Biological Origin (Biotoxins) - Handling and Management
Biotoxins may cause death or severe incapacitation at relatively low exposure levels. They are produced by living organisms, but they do not self-replicate. Predominantly they are not man-made but are of natural origin; however, biological toxins are increasingly being synthesized by modern methods. They differ from chemical toxins in that they do not pose a vapor hazard and only a few (e.g., mycotoxins) are dermally active.
When Edible Plants Turn Their Defenses On Us
Fruits and vegetables are unquestionably essential to a healthful diet. But there's another side to some of these plants that, thankfully, most people never see: the tiny amounts of toxins within them.
There’s Toxicity, And There’s Toxicity
Now, all drugs have biological activity, or they wouldn’t be drugs. But some of them are definitely more active than others, and BTX is at the far end of the scale. To give you the idea, on a mg-per-kilo basis, I believe that its fatal dose is at least five orders of magnitude lower than Sarin nerve gas, a fact that will definitely make an industrial safety director sit down and think about career options. There are quite a few wildly toxic peptides and proteins, since they’ve had plenty of time for evolution to sharpen the spear points, but to the best of my knowledge, botulinum is the winner.
Biotoxins
Biotoxins are substances which are both toxic and have a biological origin. They come in many forms and can be produced by nearly every type of living organism: there are mycotoxins (made by fungi), zootoxins (made by animals) and phytotoxins (made by plants).
CDC
Specific chemical ggents...
ScienceDirect
Biotoxins are chemical substances produced by bacteria, plants, and fungi that serve as a biological defense and poison, which protects the toxin-producer from being consumed.
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