The 15 Deadliest Poisons In The World

Cyanide

Cyanide is any number of chemical compounds that belong to contain one carbon atom bonded to three nitrogen atoms. It is produced both organically and inorganically and is one of the world’s most deadly poisons. It causes seizures, coma and death usually within minutes of exposure.

Arsenic

Arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical element found in many minerals on the planet. Poisoning most often occurs when someone drinks contaminated well water over an extended period of time. When symptoms first develop they often present as headaches, confusion and severe diarrhea. As poisoning becomes acute symptoms worsen and patients often develop blood in the urine and convulsions eventually leading to multiple organ failure and death.

Zyclon B

Was invented as a pesticide gas in the 1920’s and eventually became infamous as the gas used by Hitler and the Nazi party to murder millions of imprisoned Jews during the Holocaust. Zyclon B is a cyanide based gas that effects the system the same way cyanide poisoning does only with a much more effective delivery system.

Anthrax

Anthax is caused by the bacterium Macillus anthracis and is lethal to both humans and animals. The effects of anthrax poisoning depend largely upon the method of contraction. When the spores are inhaled symptoms initially present as a severe flu leading to pneumonia and eventual respiratory collapse. When the spores are ingested symptoms begin with bloody vomit and diarrhea resulting from lesions in the intestinal tract that will eventual rupture and cause death. When the spores infect the skin they create a massive rash and necrotic boils and of all the types of infection only the skin infection is rarely fatal.

Sulfur Mustard

Sulfur Mustard is a cytotoxic gas most famously known as Mustard Gas due to the smell and color resembling that of the mustard plant. Symptoms include blisters on the skin and lungs which eventually cause pulmonary edema resulting in death.

Polonium

Polonium is a rare and highly radioactive chemical element discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie. By mass it is somewhere around 250,000 times as toxic as cyanide and kills it’s victims via radiation poisoning. 

Strychnine

Strychnine is a colorless crystalline alkaloid which is highly toxic and often used as a pesticide for killing small mammals and birds. When inhaled, swallowed or absorbed by any mucous membrane (i.e. the eyes or mouth) it causes muscular convulsions which eventually lead to death by asphyxiation.

Mercury

Mercury is known as the liquid metal element used in thermometers, but it also a highly toxic poison. The effect of long term mercury poisoning is often sever neurological problems like dementia and also serious kidney problems. Felt hat makers in the 19th century often used mercury in the production of their hats and suffered from this illness leading to it being called “Mad Hatter’s Disease”.

Oleander

Oleander is a common plant that is highly toxic in all its parts. The plant produces a variety of compounds known as cardiac glycosides which effect the hearts ability to contract properly.

Sarin

Sarin is a highly toxic and volatile chemical used mostly as a for of nerve gas. Even at a very low concentration Sarin can be fatal and death occurs any where from 1 to 10 minutes after inhalation.

Batrachotoxin

Batrachotoxin is an extremely potent and toxic cardio/nuerotoxin found a certain species of frogs, beetles, and birds. It begins by attacking the central nervous system and causing paralysis that ultimately ends in cardiac arrest. Even in small doses this toxin is deadly and there is currently no known antidote.

Ricin

Ricin is a naturally occuring toxin found in the seeds of the castor oil plant. It is so highly toxic that a does the size of a few grains of salt is deadly to an adult human. When symptoms first appear they often mimic that of a common cold or flu, but will quickly develop into pulmonary arrest and eventually death.

Lead

Lead is fairly common metal found the world over, but is also highly toxic when ingested. Unlike many of the other substances on this list it can take anywhere from months to years for enough lead to build up in a persons system to cause trouble in most cases.  Lead poisoning often first appears as fatigue but then escalates into memory loss, mood swings, and inabiliy to function that can quickly lead to total organ failure if left untreated.

Brodifacoum

Broadifacoum is most commonly known as the little green pellets used as rat poisoning. This highly leathal toxin works by blocking the bodies ability to absorb vitamin K and thereby stopping the blood from being able to clot. 

VX (Nerve) Gas

VX is an highly deadly substance with no known use other than chemical warfare. When deployed as a chemical weapon it is extremely deadly and holds the place as the most toxic chemical weapon ever synthesized.