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I expected this to be about organic mercury.



At 20-60 mg/kg, the LD50 of methylmercury is 3000000x higher than botulinum toxin.


Dose isn't the only aspect of danger, though.

You'll find botulinum toxin at dental, neurology, plastic surgery, etc. offices being safely used regularly. You're unlikely to find methymercury.



Thing with FOOF is you'd notice your bones dissolving almost immediately.

Poor old Karen Wetterhahn didn't even show symptoms for a year, from a milligram drop of it.


> Thing with FOOF is you'd notice your bones dissolving almost immediately.

I'm not sure about FOOF, but that's definitely not the case with hydrofluoric acid. With hydrofluoric acid, depending on the concentration, burn symptoms can take several hours to manifest, luring victims of accidents into a false sense of security and causing them to delay seeking treatment.


That's a tragic story, she was taking all precautions and thought she was safe, but it turned out they were inadequate.


Wikipedia states her blood mercury level at 4 mg/L with 0.2mg/L in the urine (i.e. getting excreted at a decent rate) five months after the alleged incident.

Ignoring exponential decay, in five months at one liter a day she would have shed 30mg (so actual numbers were way higher).

Is it a typo/error or does this actually mean she was killed by way more mercury than a few drops through the glove?


The actual amount was was probably in the tens or so of milligrams. "A milligram" is a slightly hyperbolic way of saying "a very small amount", down in the small-fractions-of-a-gram level.

I forget that not everyone on the Internet is aware of English idiom.


The numbers point to more like a gram.




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