Murder Weapons – 17 of the Most Deadly Poisons

Poisons can be an effective murder weapon. Without an autopsy and toxically screen, it is impossible to know how a person died. Poisons are delivered by either ingestion (by food or drink), injected or inhaled.

Because these chemical can kill, they are difficult to get your hands on, but some can be found in nature. Access to manmade poisons may be restricted by the government or have restrictions on purchases.

Buyer Beware: If you do acquire one of these poisons, there is often a paper trail of the purchase which will be extremely damming in court. There is usually no good reason for the Average Joe to possess these poisons, so if they are found in your home, it can be another deadly blow during a criminal trial as it proves (usually beyond a shadow of a doubt) that you had the means to murder.

How you go about obtaining these chemicals is your problem. We just report what can kill.

17 of the Most Deadly Poisons

(in no particular order)

1.  Botulinum

Experts say that botulinum is THE most deadly poison known to man with a lethal dose of about 1 ng/kg intravenously, meaning one teaspoon can kill 1.2 billion people. The toxin itself is rapidly destroyed by heat, such as in thorough cooking. When contracted, the nervous system completely shuts down.

2.  Cyanide

Cyanide kills by making the body unable to use life-sustaining oxygen. Exposure by inhalation or ingestion leads to seizures, cardiac arrest, and ultimately death. Cyanide is rapidly absorbed from the stomach, lungs, mucosal surfaces, and unbroken skin. Effects begin within seconds of inhalation and within 30 min of ingestion.

3.  Dioxin

Reputed to be the most dangerous man-made poison, it is 60,000 times more toxic than cyanide and its toxicity is second only to radioactive waste. Dioxin changes the functioning of your cells.  A dose of only 50 micrograms is lethal for a human – that’s a 1,000th of a small pill.

4.  Strychnine

Strychnine is a white, odorless, powder that can be taken by mouth, inhaled or dissolved in a solution and injected. Minutes after exposure, the head and neck muscles begin to spasm. The spasms soon spread to every muscle in the body-and don’t stop. Death occurs through total exhaustion of the body from the intense convulsions or from asphyxiation.

5.  Amatoxin

A deadly poison extracted from certain types of mushrooms. Amatoxin poising symptoms occur 6 to 12 hours after ingestion and include those similar to food poisoning. After 24 hours, the toxins continue to attack the liver and kidney followed by death in 3-7 days. The estimated minimum lethal dose is 0.1 mg/kg or 7 mg of toxin in adults.

6.  Tetrodotoxin

Tetrodotoxin is a deadly neurotoxin with no known antidote. Found in the organs of puffer fish (the famous Japanese delicacy fugu), tetrodotoxin persists even after the fish is cooked. If the toxin is consumed, paralysis and death can strike within six hours. The lethal dose for adults is 25 milligrams when ingested and little over one-half milligram when injected. Symptoms include paresthesias of the lips and tongue, incoordination, tremor, paralysis, seizures, cardiac arrhythmias, respiratory failure and cardiovascular collapse.

7.  Mercury

Low levels of mercury are not especially toxic to adults. However, inhaled mercury vapor attacks the brain and lungs, shutting down the central nervous system. There is no odor warning when toxic concentrations are present.

8.  Sodium Fluoroacetate (Compound 1080)

An odorless, tasteless, water soluble, and without antidote, 1080 blocks cellular metabolism, leading to a quick yet painful death. The lethal dose for humans is 2–10 mg/kg. This toxin is so potent that bodies of creatures killed with 1080 remain poisonous for up to a year. Symptoms can appear as soon as 30 minutes after exposure and include muscle twitching and seizures eventually leading to a coma.

9.  Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)

Symptoms of this type of poisoning include lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, increased thirst and urination. These symptoms develop rapidly because the ethylene glycol causes kidney failure. By the time these symptoms are present treatment becomes much more difficult and many humans will die despite treatment.

10.  Anthrax

Anthrax is most deadly when inhaled and a lethal dose is 10,000–20,000 spores. Once inhaled, you experience cold or flu-like symptoms followed by complete respiratory collapse.

11.  Ricin

This toxin is made from the castor beans and when chewed and swallowed, the released ricin causes death. Twice as deadly as cobra venom, a lethal dose is 500 micrograms (about half a grain of sand) when injected or inhaled.

12.  Sarin

Sarin is an extremely deadly nerve gas. Initial symptoms are a runny nose and tightness in the chest. Breathing soon becomes constricted and nausea sets in. Next, you lose control of all your bodily functions and quickly become comatose. At that point, your body convulses and spasms while you suffocate.

13.  Arsenic

Arsenic kills by allosteric inhibition of essential metabolic enzymes, leading to death from multi-system organ failure. The lethal dose of arsenic in adults is estimated to be 70 to 200 mg or 1 mg/kg/day. Arsenic is extremely easy to detect during an autopsy even without a toxicology screen. A dead giveaway is the smell of bitter almonds.

14.  Potassium (KCI)

Potassium is vital in the human body, but too much potassium can cause cardiac arrest. In fact, executioners use a potassium injection to kill prisoners on death row (aka death by lethal injection.) Death by KCI overdose often looks like a heart attack.

15.  Death Cap Mushroom

One of the most toxic fungi, 30g is enough to kill a human. Symptoms appear 6 to 24 hours after ingestion and include jaundice, lethargy, sweats and dizziness. The toxins in these poisons mushrooms continue to attack the liver and kidneys, which can lead to coma, organ failure, and death. The only treatment is a liver transplant.

16.  Poison Hemlock (water hemlock, spotted cowbane or fool’s parsley)

This plant is very poisonous and even a very small amount may cause death. Hemlock was used in Ancient Greece to put prisoners to death. The operating chemical in Hemlock is coniine, a neurotoxin whose symptoms include paralysis. This plant is easy to confuse with wild carrot.

17.  Death Lily

Their name says it all. Found in the US and Siberia, these flowers of death are often confused with onions. All parts of the plant (leaves, bulb, flower), are poisons. Symptoms start with burning lips and grow to slow heart beat, low temperature, coma and finally death.

Stay Brutal!