Originally published at: A toxicologist explains how eyedrops can be used to slowly kill someone, and other curious facts about poisons | Boing Boing
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I wonder if there is a correlation between eye-drop poisonings and the release of the movie “Wedding Crashers”, which had the main protagonist poison his love-interest’s fiance using just such a move. I’d certainly never heard of it before that.
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I cannot believe she confirmed fluoride in large quantities (e.g. a whole tube of toothpaste) may be toxic, without qualifying that the amount of fluoride in drinking water (where it is added) is so small as to be harmless no matter how much water you drink every day.
(Unless drinking the sort of huge amounts that it is that which will harm you, not the fluoride.)
The anti-fluoridisation nuts will have a field day - “look this expert toxicologist says it’s bad for you”.
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Speaking as a chemist, everything is toxic at some level. Everything.
The only meaningful questions of toxicity are if something is present at potentially harmful levels or if it is likely to bioaccumulate at potentially harmful levels.
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I do understand that. But her bald “too much … can kill you” line, in respect of fluoride specifically, needed qualifying - there’s an audience out there seeking ANY ‘expert’ evidence they can use and she should have taken note of the controversy and not have given them her own words to use.
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A bartender I worked with years ago claimed to poison people’s drinks when he didn’t like them. He was prone to exaggeration and outright lies, but I also don’t doubt that he did it occasionally. He was a vicious fucker.
American fast food can, will, & does the same thing.
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Yeah, the four horsemen of high portion size + high fat + high salt + high glycemic index are the express lane to metabolic disorders.
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Hmmmmm, good to know
(Kidding!)
essential detail…
To quote Stephen Fry, “Of course too much is bad for you! That’s what too much means!”
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In Mexico we’ve had a few well known cases, specially sex workers known as “goteras” (can be translated as “droppers”: “gota” means “drop”). They use eye drops, mixed with alcoholic drinks, to anesthetize their clients and rob them, but in some cases the victims have died.
The most famous story (and the first widely known) included two midget wrestlers (twin brothers Parkita and Espectrito Jr). Link in spanish: Prostitutas narcotizaron a miniluchadores "Espectrito Jr." y "La Parkita"
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