Can you stop nerve gas poisoning from eating a datura plant?

Question

From what I hear atropine is the antidote to poisoning through nerve agents. Datura is a common plant in that grows in north america that contains naturally occuring atropine but is normally toxic to ingest. However if atropine is not immediatly availible could you just pick a datura growing on the sidewalk and stop the nerve agent poisoning by eating it?

Im only saying its use as a last resort when immediate medical help is not availible. Atropine needs to be administered in less then a minute after nerve agent exposure. Although datura is toxic, its symptoms are reletivly easier to treat then nerve gas exposure. However im not saying its a good idea im just saying would it work as a last resort measure.

Also this is only a hypothetical situation im not saying it is likly that nerve gas exposure would happen

Answer 1

Do you think it likely that you will be in a nerve gas accident somewhere on a North American sidewalk?
Personally, I wouldn't try it.

Burrows and Tyrl (Toxic Plants of North America) list the toxicity at 0.1% b.w. from ingestion. And in any case, what is the dosage of atropine needed (I confess I know nothing of this supposed use as an antidote)? They say that "atropine or hyoscamine effects" tend to be "peripheral" for physiological reasons- the anhydride of atropine causes more problems (neurotoxic potential). The tropane alkaloids and a few other chemicals cause inherently unwanted symptoms.

Datura is toxic in a really big way. Just eating some of the plant will make you very ill at best. The possibility of atropine as an antidote would probably occur under very controlled conditions. ...What I'm saying is that it would probably be a bad idea.

Answer 2

You can try sprinkling dried blood in your garden - I'm pretty sure you can buy it at the garden center. My dad says the rabbits don't like it. Unfortunately, since rabbits multiply rapidly, you're eventually going to have to contend with more & more. They always stay within the same mile-or-so radius, so it's not like they're going to just move away. My dad catches them live in a humane trap. This is going to sound weird, but when he gets one, he puts on long leather gloves & moves it from the trap to a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. He takes the rabbit for a drive & releases it in park about 5 miles away. (If you don't get it out of the circle in which it lives, it's going to come back). He does this at least once a day, but he's retired & has nothing else to do but mow the lawn & protect his vegetables. There's probably some kind of animal control company that can do something similar for you. Maybe you can check with the SPCA or similar agency for advice. Good luck, I hope this helps.

Answer 3

can you elaborate please?