The Deadliest Substance Known To Man Is Around Us All The Time.

Botulinum toxin is produced by bacteria and is one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances in the world. Even though it is highly toxic, there are people that use it for ailments such as migraines and muscle spasms and cosmetic use.

It takes an injection of just 2 billionths of a gram or inhaling 13 billionths of a gram to kill an adult. A spoonful of the stuff in a city's water supply could be catastrophic. Pain and temporary muscle paralysis is the best case scenario. Severe paralysis can stop a person from breathing, causing death. It is the deadliest substance known to man because they've yet to discover an antitoxin.

Botulinum toxin has been found in a variety of foods, including low-acid preserved vegetables, such as green beans, spinach, mushrooms, and beets; fish, including canned tuna, fermented, salted and smoked fish; and meat products, such as ham and sausage. It is usually found in improperly canned home food, but not always.

A man in California died and nine other people were hospitalized after a Botulism outbreak at a convenience store and it was all from nacho cheese sauce. It is not clear exactly how the bacterium got into this gas station’s sealed bags of processed cheese sauce. He suffered a few weeks of pain and confusion before he passed.

If that wasn't scary enough, there are a lot more extremely deadly toxins out there.

Batrachotoxin is found in certain species of beetles, birds, and frogs. The most poisonous form of this toxin is found in the golden frog, which is known at the most poisonous animal on the planet. It has enough poison in it to kill ten to twenty humans or take down an elephant. Such frogs are among those used for poisoning darts by a tribe in Columbia. When a bird is hit with a dart, it is immediate paralyzed and falls out of the air. A lethal dose of the poison is 0.000012 grams. There is no known antidote.

Mercury occurs naturally in deposits throughout the world. It gets dangerous when it builds up in fish and becomes methylmercury. It is also found in metals, teeth fillings and thermometers A small amount can be deadly. It can also make hair and teeth fall out.

In August of 1996, scientist Karen Wetterhahn was at work when she spilled one to two drops of dimethylmercury, a colorless liquid, on her latex glove. She was a toxic metals expert and immediately followed safety protocol, washing her hands and cleaning her tools. By June of the next year, the mother of two was dead. 

Scientists would later learn that Wetterhahn’s latex gloves offered no protection. Although a few other people had died from dimethylmercury poisoning before, no one understood how dangerous the substance really was. Wetterhahn’s death would change that, and usher in new safety standards for one of the most toxic substances known to humans.

Ricin is a deadly protein extracted from the caster bean plant. A dose of purified Ricin powder the size of a few grains of table salt can kill an adult human. There is not much of a chance that you can be accidently poisoned by it, unless you worked in the United States military in the 1940's. 

The U.S. military experimented with using Ricin as a possible warfare agent.  Ricin-associated illness cannot be spread from person to person through casual contact. However, if you come into contact with someone who has Ricin on their body or clothes, you could become exposed to it.

If ingested the effects will after 10 hours. Vomiting, diarrhea, seizures and death when the liver, spleen and kidneys stop working.

Sarin is a colorless and odorless nerve gas that was developed in Germany as a pesticide. Later it was weaponized by Soviet Union and the United States military. It killed millions of people. It caused 12 deaths in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack. 

It is 26 more times deadly than cyanide. If ingested, eyes begin watering, vomiting, evacuating of the bowels and seizures occur. Death happens within 10 minutes.

Cyanide is a rapidly acting chemical compound that is potentially deadly and can exist in various forms. It can be found in plants, bacteria, fungi as well as the seeds of some fruits. It would take at least 150 crushed apple seeds and eaten really well to cause death, which would happen within seconds. Before death, seizures, apnea and cardiac arrest would occur.

In 2012, a former United States Wall Street banker committed suicide using Cyanide. He died in about 37 seconds after swallowing a Cyanide pill in court.

Strychnine is a white, highly toxic, colorless and bitter powder that used as a pesticide. It is obtained from seeds of the nux vomica tree. Within 15 to 60 minutes of being poisoned, feeling anxious, having muscle pain and spasms will happen and at high doses, respiratory failure and brain death occur.

In 2016, David Keith Lautenberg's body was found in the middle of the English Moors. Lautenberg had committed suicide by ingesting a lethal dose of Strychnine.

Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal.  

It is not deadly in small amounts thank goodness, because in 2017, 2 million people in the United States were exposed to high levels of Arsenic from getting water from wells. Today, in developing countries arsenic, from contaminated water, leads to cancer

Back in the Victorian era, women accidentally poisoned themselves by applying powder to their faces. They had no idea that it contained a potentially deadly poison. Also, in 19th century England it was the poison of choice for murders to use on their unsuspecting victims.

Vomiting and diarrhea occurs and if enough is ingested death happens with in 2 hours to 2 days.

Tetrodotoxin is a potent neurotoxin. Pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish carry the toxin. In Japan sometimes people die after eating a pufferfish known as fugu. Ingesting Tetrodotoxin can causes respiratory failure, paralysis and death. There is no known antidote.

Around 2017, 15 people and more were hospitalized in Thailand died when they bought the fish from vendors that disguised the dangerous fish as salmon.

Lead poisoning is very common and it is responsible for around 500,000 deaths a year. It is said that it is responsible for the death of Beethoven. Lead paint use to be widely used. If lead paint is on a children's toys, it can cause behavioral problems and permanent brain damage. High levels of lead attacks the central nervous system and can lead to coma and death.

In 2017, a nine month old suffered from lead poisoning after chewing on a beaded bracelet the parents bought at a artisan fair.