what is the most poisonous substance in the world?

Question

do you think pufferfish poison is?

Answer 1

When you get right down to it, everything is poisonous. Water will kill you if you drink too much of it. Oxygen is a deadly poison, yet we need it to live.
However, there are some chemicals that we are better off not encountering. Here's a list of the most poisonous chemicals known. I've listed the name of the toxin, its source, and approximate average lethal dose per kilogram of body weight.

tetanus
1 nanogram/kg

botulinal neurotoxin (bacteria)
1 nanogram/kg

shigella (bacteria)
1 nanogram/kg

palytoxin (coral)
60 nanogram/kg

diphtheria (bacteria)
100 nanogram/kg

ricin (from castor beans)
1 microgram/kg

aflatoxins (mold which grows on nuts, legumes, seeds)
1-784 micrograms, depending on type of aflatoxin

shigella (bacteria)
1 microgram/kg

saxitoxin (shellfish)
3-5 micrograms

tetrodotoxin (fugu pufferfish)
10 microgram/kg

diphtheria (bacteria)
1.6 milligram/kg

Answer 2

" I think it is plutonium, a man made element" Plutonium is not in the top ten of dangerous radioactive elements. There are far more toxic elements around including radium, actinium and thorium. Radioactive elements have a half life and decay over time. Poisonous non-radioactive elements such as thallium stay poisonous for ever. Cyanides and organochlorides will kill you efficiently and quickly and natural poisons such as curare and hemlock will do the job better than plutonium. If you mean "venemous" rather than "poisonous", then the top ten venemous snakes are to be found in Australia with the inland taipan or fierce snake the most venemous. Other Australian animals that will kill you are blue-ringed octopuses, box jellyfish, cone shells and various spiders including the Sydney funnel web. You will be incapacitated or suffer severe pain from some other spiders, scorpions, jellyfish, stone fish and some other fish and even the male platypus has a poisonous spur which can inflict a nasty wound. Despite all of those, Australia is still a great place to live or visit. "Daddy Long Legs (Pholcus phalangioides) most venomous spider" Urban myth. It isn't. You can feel a bite and it will raise a small red spot but that's it. A Brazilian spider and the Sydney funnel web vie for the title of most venemous.

Answer 3

I'd say TTX (Tetrodotoxin). It can be absorbed through the skin, swallowed or inhaled, and even a minuscule amount (and I mean something like a few hundredths of a milligram) can cause complete organ failure (although the poison doesn't affect the brain and the person is concious throughout the process). It leaves no trace behind when used in such small amounts. It's mostly found in puffer fish, but other sources are known. The person dies as their diaphragm becomes paralysed and they can't breathe, and there is no known antidote (although the patient can be kept alive long enough on a respirator in hospital, until the toxin is flushed out of the system).

Answer 4

Could be. There is also a society for suicides that goes under the name of a deadly poison.

Answer 5

Highly radioactive substances like Plutonium.

Answer 6

Cyanide? It'll kill you stone dead in a matter of seconds, while with radiation poisoning you're talking hours/days.

Answer 7

No I think Cobra venom is some of the quickest acting.

Answer 8

Just a thought--curare, the poison on darts.

Answer 9

Pliutonium

Answer 10

Hydrogen cyanide = prussic acid