Revealing the world's top ten deadly poisons

Humans discovered poison by accident, perhaps while cooking or by unknowingly discovering that certain plants were highly toxic. Countless poisons have been invented and discovered in human history. An American science magazine once ranked the world's top ten deadly poisons.

1. Botulinum toxin

It is really not an easy task to choose the most lethal poison in the world, but experts unanimously agree that the first choice should be botulinum toxin, which is far more lethal than sarin. It can damage a person's nervous system and cause death in extreme pain. However, it works wonders in reducing wrinkles.

2. Ricin (ingested or inhaled)

Ricin is extracted from castor beans. Ricin can cause respiratory and organ failure, leading to death within a few hours. Sometimes, chewing a small amount of castor beans can be fatal.

3. Anthrax (inhalation)

Anthrax can be fatal if it comes into contact with the skin, but it is most commonly caused by inhalation. It first causes a cold and then completely destroys a person's respiratory system.

4. Sarin gas (inhalation)

A deadly poison gas, hundreds of times more lethal than cyanide. Just inhaling a small amount will cause a person to foam at the mouth, fall into a coma, and eventually die. Sarin gas was originally used as an insecticide but was made illegal in 1997.

5. Tetrodotoxin (ingestion)

Found in fugu (the famous Japanese delicacy, puffer fish), the toxin remains even when the fish is cooked. If a person eats it, they will become paralyzed or even die within 6 hours. More than five people die from this toxin in Japan every year.

6. Cyanide (ingestion or inhalation)

Cyanide comes in various forms. It not only exists in large quantities in nature, but is also easy to produce. It can cause epileptic seizures, cardiac arrest, and large doses can kill a person within seconds.

7. Mercury poisoning (inhalation)

Small amounts of mercury are not very harmful to adults, but inhaling mercury vapor (metallic mercury turns into gas at room temperature) can cause fatal damage to the brain, lungs and central nervous system.

8. Strychnine (ingestion or inhalation)

Strychnine is a common pesticide and is not as powerful as the poisons listed above. However, the death it causes is extremely terrible: all the muscles in the body will spasm violently until they die of exhaustion.

9. Amanita Toxins (Ingestion)

Amanita toxin comes from a poisonous mushroom. It can destroy people's liver and kidneys within a few days. People will consciously feel extreme pain from the body until they fall into a coma and die.

10. Tetramine (ingestion or inhalation)

As a rodenticide, strychnine proved to be too potent. The toxins in the body of a poisoned creature can remain for up to a year. It is odorless, tasteless, soluble in water, and has no antidote. Rat poison hinders the human body's metabolism, causing rapid death accompanied by physical pain.