Fact or Fiction? Jack W. Dini 1537 Desoto Way Livermore, CA 94550 E-mail:
[email protected] Poison or Medicine, Toxin or Drug? “Poisons surround us. It’s not just too ing disorder often strikes those who Tomas Dolinay notes, “The data from much of a bad thing like arsenic that depend on small motor skills: musi- this work leads to a tempting specula- can cause trouble, it’s too much of cians, writers, surgeons. After treat- tion that inhaled CO might be useful in nearly anything. Too much vitamin ments with botulinum toxin, Fleisher minimizing VILI.”5 A, hypervitaminosis A, can cause liver is performing and touring again, and Small amounts of carbon monoxide damage. Too much vitamin D can recently released his first two-handed might alleviate symptoms of multiple damage the kidneys. Too much water recording in 40 years.1 sclerosis, a study in mice suggests. The can result in hyponatremia, a dilution finding may offer a treatment for MS, of the blood’s salt content, which which strikes when a person’s immune disrupts brain heart, and muscle func- Table 1 system damages the fatty sheaths that tion,” reports Cathy Newman.1 Hold a nickel in your hand. protect nerve fibers in the brain and However, more and more research Here’s how many lethal doses equal spinal cord.4 studies are revealing that a little bit that nickel’s weight1 Other studies of laboratory animals of some poisons can be quite helpful suggest that carbon monoxide in small to human health. Examples include Thallium 5 doses can prevent injury to blood ves- botulinum, carbon monoxide, hydro- 1080 Rat Poison 7 sels caused by surgery.