Toxic Trivia 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paracelsus

All the answers were doctors of the Renaisssance era but it was Paracelsus who was dubbed the "father of toxicology".

Paracelsus (c.1493-1541) was a Swiss physician. His real name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim but he chose to go by the name Paracelsus (meaning "above or beyond Celsus") because he believed he was superior to Celsus, an eminent Roman physician. His ego meant he was not popular among his contemporaries. However, he did have some progressive ideas which led to significant medical advances. Paracelsus is famous for saying that "All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing poison".

Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) was a Dutch physician who was known as the "father of modern anatomy".

William Harvey (1578-1657) was an English physician who discovered that the heart acts as a pump, moving blood in a continuous circle throughout the body.

Girolamo Fracastoro (c.1476/8-1553) was an Italian physician who proposed the idea of "contagion theory" - that diseases were not caused by bad air or bad luck, but by "tiny bodies" or "seeds" (seminaria) which were too small to be seen with the naked eye and passed between people.

Answer: hemlock

Most of what we know about Socrates comes from the writings of his student, Plato. Socrates' political views upset certain influential people, resulting in him being charged with corrupting the youth of Athens with his teachings and not believing in the Athenian gods. The jury pronounced sentence of death after a brief trial. In those times, death was induced by drinking wine which had been poisoned with ground leaves and seeds of the hemlock plant. A juice derived from opium poppies was usually added to induce stupor and thus lessen awareness of the effects of the hemlock.

The incorrect answers are also plant-based poisons. Aconite is derived from plants of the genus Aconitum and is also known as monkshood or wolfsbane. Belladonna is derived from the Atropa belladonna plant and is also known as deadly nightshade. Taxine is derived from yew trees (Taxus species).

Answer: fugu (pufferfish)

Fugu is a pufferfish that is eaten as an expensive Japanese delicacy. It is only safe to eat after the poisonous parts have been removed - the skin, fins, and body organs - everything except the flesh. The pufferfish is the most poisonous fish in the world. As little as 1 mg of tetrodotoxin is deadly. Approximately 50 people die from fugu poisoning in Japan every year.

Fish may be toxic if they contain high levels of mercury and the highest levels are typically found in large, long-lived, predators that accumulate mercury over time, such as shark and swordfish. Eating mercury-contaminated fish can cause a neurological disorder called Minamata disease.

Fish of the Scombridae family, such as tuna and mackerel, can cause a severe allergic reaction if they contain high levels of histamine. This is called scombroid poisoning and can occur when the fish is not refrigerated properly.

Reef fish, such as barracuda, snapper and grouper, can cause ciguatera poisoning. This typically occurs in tropical areas such as the Caribbean, South Pacific and northern Australia. It is caused by reef fish feeding on smaller fish which in turn have fed on the algae which produces the toxin. One unique symptom of ciguatera poisoning is temperature reversal, where cold water seems boiling hot.

Answer: blue-ringed octopus

All of the answer options are venomous marine creatures but only the blue-ringed octopus is a mollusc. This octopus is about the size of a golfball and under neutral conditions is a sandy brown colour, which helps with camouflage in its rockpool habitat. However, when disturbed or threatened, it undergoes a colour change with bright blue pulsating rings appearing over its body. This is an adaptation to warn off predators.

The bite (not a sting!) of the blue-ringed octopus is painless and many victims are not aware they have been bitten until the symptoms become evident. The symptoms are rapid-onset paralysis, muscle weakness, nausea and vomiting, and difficulty breathing, leading to respiratory failure. The toxin injected is a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin.

Toxic and toxin are broad terms which are applied to any substance that is harmful. Venomous and poisonous are specific terms which pertain to the method of delivery of a toxin. If an animal is venomous, it injects its toxin directly into you via a bite or sting. An animal is said to be poisonous if you eat it, inhale its toxin, or absorb it through your skin. The blue-ringed octopus is an example of an animal that is both venomous (if it bites you) and poisonous (if you bite it).

Answer: oleander

It has been claimed that in 1809 some French soldiers fighting in Spain died after using branches of oleander as skewers for roasting meat over their fire. Oleander was a very common shrub in Spain. Although the validity of this incident is uncertain, it has been mentioned in books as far back as 1844. Even if it is an urban myth, the fact remains that all parts of the plant are highly toxic and deaths have been recorded. (When I was a child, my neighbour was hospitalised after simply pruning the oleander shubs in her yard.

She was poisoned by her skin absorbing the sap).

Answer: cocaine

In 1886, when Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", drugs such as cocaine, opium, hashish, laudanum and arsenic were not illegal and could be purchased over the counter in any chemist shop. Stevenson suffered from ill-health and was known to use medicinal cocaine, as well as hashish and opium. Several biographers have claimed that he wrote the novel after a six-day cocaine binge. However, this is contradicted by accounts left by Stevenson, as well as his wife and son, which state that he was bed-ridden with a severe cough while writing it.

Stevenson was not the only Victorian writer who used cocaine; others include Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, and Sigmund Freud.

Cocaine is a very unpredictable drug/toxin in its effects. It can prove fatal regardless of the amount consumed and regardless of whether the user is a first-time or habitual user.

Answer: solanine

Some vegetables contain small amounts of toxins but, unless they are eaten in very large quantities, they are usually harmless. That fact is reflected in Paracelsus' dictum that the dose makes the poison.

Green potatoes are poisonous because they contain high levels of two toxins - solanine and chaconine. These toxins are classified as glycoalkaloids and can be found in members of the Solanaceae family, commonly known as the nightshade family, which includes potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and capsicum (peppers). Exposure to light promotes the green colouration, which is chlorophyll, hence potatoes need to be stored in the dark.

If it is only the skin that is green, you can peel that away and the potatoes will be safe to eat. However, if they are green inside you should not eat them. Symptoms include stomach pain, nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, dizziness, and headache. In the 19th and 20th centuries, there have been a number of recorded cases of people dying from eating green potatoes although it rarely occurs nowadays.

Cyanide can be found in raw cassava, bamboo shoots and the pits of stone fruit. The seeds of apples and pears contain a toxin called amygdalin which reacts with stomach enzymes to release cyanide into the gastrointestinal tract.

Oxalates can be found in spinach, rhubarb, and beets, and can contribute to kidney stones.

Muscarine is a toxin found in some species of poisonous mushrooms.

Answer: Dr Hawley Crippen

Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen might never have become famous had it not been for the fact that he was the first criminal to be caught with the help of the new technology of wireless telegraphy (radio communication).

Dr Crippen murdered his wife Cora by poisoning her with hyoscine hydrobromide (scopolamine), a common sedative used in surgery. He then dismembered the body and buried Cora's remains in the cellar of their London home. He had killed his wife because he had fallen in love with his secretary, Ethel Le Neve. When police investigated Cora's disappearance, Crippen told them she had run away with another man.

When Crippen suspected the police were closing in on him, he and Le Neve fled to Canada on board a ship with Le Neve disguised as a boy. The ship's captain became suspicious because he was aware of the manhunt for Crippen, Le Neve's disguise was unconvincing and the pair were inappropriately affectionate for a father and son. The captain sent a wireless telegram to the authorities and they were apprehended when the ship docked in Canada.

The three incorrect answers were doctors guilty of killing their patients, two by deliberate poisoning. Dr Harold Shipman, also known as Dr Death, is believed to be Britain's most prolific serial killer. He used diamorphine to kill his victims. Dr Thomas Neill Cream, also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, poisoned his victims with strychnine. Dr Jayant Patel's victims died as a result of gross medical negligence. He was also nicknamed Dr Death.

Answer: cane toad

Cane toads are native to South America. They were introduced to Australia in 1935 to combat the cane beetles which were threatening the sugar cane industry. Unfortunately, cane toads had no natural predators in Australia at that time and became as big a pest as the cane beetles. They are poisonous to humans and almost all animals.

Cane toads produce a number of toxins, collectively called bufotoxin, from secretory glands on their shoulders. They are poisonous to the touch and they can spray their secretions up to 2 metres (6-1/2 feet). Symptoms include intense pain, cardiac arrhythmia, severe vomiting, nausea, dizziness, excessive salivation and, in severe cases, seizures or paralysis. While rare, human deaths have been recorded.

The rough-skinned newt from North America secretes tetrodotoxin (the same toxin found in fugu or puffer rish) through its skin.

Poison dart frogs (also known as poison arrow frogs) are a group of brightly coloured frogs from Central and South America that secrete a variety of toxins through their skin.

Mantella frogs (also known as golden frogs or Malagasy poison frogs) from Madagascar are similar to poison dart drogs in that they are brightly coloured and secrete toxic alkaloids through their skin, but they are not related.

Answer: cone snail

Cone snails are so-named because their shells are conical in shape. They are highly prized by shell collectors because of their beautiful colours and patterns. Cone snails are carnivores that eat worms, small fish, and other molluscs. To capture their prey, they use a specialised tooth which acts as a harpoon to shoot a neurotoxic venom into its prey. It is dangerous to pick them up because the "harpoon" can reach all parts of the shell and can penetrate gloves or a wet suit. The toxin can kill an adult human within one to five hours and there is no known antivenom.

Cowries are not harmful to humans. Olive snails are not dangerous, but are sometimes confused with venomous cone snails because their shells have a similar shape. Moon snails are not directly dangerous to humans but it is not wise to eat them because they may be poisonous if they become contaminated during algal blooms. Eating contaminated moon snails can cause PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning). In severe cases, it can cause paralysis, respiratory failure and death.