Natural toxins
| We shouldn't see things in black and white: on one side the diabolical chemical and on the other the harmless natural. It's true that the adverse effects of herbal medicines are more rarely reported than those of chemical drugs. But that doesn't mean that plants are harmless. Many plants are potentially dangerous. It is important to know that the toxic principle may be distributed throughout the plant or only in one part (root, berries, seeds, fruits, leaves). Some plants or parts of plants are toxic when young, then become harmless, or vice versa. Most toxic plants are dangerous the first time they are used (known as acute intoxication), while others only become dangerous after a certain number of uses (known as chronic intoxication). There are also different degrees of toxicity. Some plants are lethal, others carcinogenic, and some cause serious organ damage... or "simple" vomiting. The most toxic poisons are found in nature. Remember plants such as hemlock (which caused Socrates' death) or extremely powerful poisons such as strychnine or even ricin (which has been in the news a lot in recent years), which are molecules produced by plants. For more information on poisonous plants, see the Lille poison control center. |
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updated on 4/25/24
