Natural or Man-made Chemicals?

Adapted from a presentation by Penny Le Couteur,

The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, Canada

“All substances are poisonous,there is none which is not a poison; the right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy.”

Paracelsus circa 1538

The great myth

“Natural is good; man-made is bad”

It may be natural but you’ll be just as dead!

The seven most deadly chemical compounds

LD50 /mg/kg

Botulinum toxin A 3 x 10-8

Tetanus toxin A 5 x 10-6

Diphtheria toxin 3 x 10-4

Dioxin * 3 x 10-2

Muscarine 2 x 10-1

Bufotoxin 4 x 10-1

Sarin * 4 x 10-1

LD50 = The lethal dose of a compound for 50% of animals exposed

* Synthetic

Viktor YushchenkoPresident of the Ukraine

July 2004 December 2004

Muscarine - from mushrooms

OCH2

H3C

HO

N

CH3

CH3

CH3

Cl

Bufotoxin – from the common toad

O

CH3

OH

O

CH3

O C

O

CH3

O

C

(CH2)6O C

O

NH CH

COOH

CH2 CH2 CH2 NH C

NH

NH2