what affect would a toxic substance have on the body?

Answer 1

There are many toxic substances with different toxicities. They do not hurt the same system; some are toxic to the heart, some to the nervous system..etc. What toxic substance do you have in mind. The effect is usually almost always negative on the human body (or animal body for that matter) Some has uses. Warfarin which is old rat-poison is used in humans for increasing blood-liquidity (blood thinners.) So it all depends on the substance itself.

Answer 2

Effects come in man shape and sizes.
lead- retardation, dimished function of the blood (the Roman empire used lead cups)
a lot of things cause massive skin blistering, some things affect the nerves, some stop the heart those are the nice ones.
some are a lot more slow working long term pain nerve degeneration, organ failure.
basically most any thing bad can happen from a toxic substance (depends what it is)

Answer 3

It depends on what the chemical is and the dose.
But by definition a toxic substance will have a harmful affect on the body.


Here's a list to read up on toxic substances and their various effects on the body.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pel88/npelname.html

Answer 4

The usual effect is death. That's why their called 'toxic'. It comes from the Latin 'toxicum' which was a poison (made, IIRC, from Hemlock) which was used to treat arrow and spear tips.


Doug

Answer 5

might burn nerves or weaken muscles.