Eventually, his heart collapsed. Litvinenko died three weeks after having been poisoned. But poison attacks are not a thing of the past. This was confirmed as recently as in April 2013, when White House security staff found a letter filled with ricin addressed to President Barack Obama. In a worst-case scenario, the poison could have killed the president within a few days.
Poison as a cure?
There could be an upside to poison’s ability to attack our cells at a molecular level. Because ricin is so potent, scientists try to tame the poison, allowing them to utilise ricin’s ability to damage cell protein production for killing cancer cells – without killing the patient. Others aim to use ricin in mucosa vaccines – preventive treatment aimed at the mucosa of nose, mouth, and rectum, where the majority of viruses enter the body.
An advanced ricin defence in the mucosa will provide us with an efficient weapon against diseases such as mutated flu and tuberculosis. So far, doctors have not been fully able to tame the molecules of murder, which unscrupulous people sometimes use to commit a crime.
Mary Kellerman from Illionois was not the only victim of the infected painkillers. A total of seven Americans fell victim to the cyanide murderer, before the American authorities managed to issue a warning concerning infected Tylenol pills. The murder mystery was never solved.
Cells have to give up
Most poisons attack the body’s tiniest, yet most important building blocks: the cells.
Nature’s most potent poisons attack the tiniest building blocks of our bodies: the cells. Poisons can effect as little as one molecule – but this has fatal consequences. Even the slightest molecular change in our cells can kill. But could you recognise an ordinary white powder as a molecular poison? And what would be your fate if you didn’t?