How tightly controlled are chemical toxins?

Factual Questions
1

…Like radioactive stuff, poisons like heavy metals and mercury, etc. Are these government controlled substances that basically are not available to the public? Or what?

2

I’m pretty sure you could still get mercury in old thermometers, which are pretty commonly found around.

In fact, I’d reckon that (other than the severely radioactive stuff) there are probably formerly legal commercial products containing many of these now toxic substances. Considering there was still lead paint, lead gasoline, and asbestos into the 1970s in the US, and even later overseas.

Mind if I ask why?

3

Paranoia, I guess, about random poisonings and etc.

4

Radioactive material varies. Reactor-produced material is highly controlled where cyclotron produced material is less so. You still need to have a license by the NRC for minimal usage but there are less hoops to jump through. Of course, the stuff we make is sent out FedEx, so you could just hijack a truck if you really wanted some. For anything that’s truly fissile though, there’s a high level of security.

5

You can get a lot of nasty stuff with a pest control license.

6

There’s plenty of nasty stuff lurking in big jugs below most people’s kitchen sink, and some nastier stuff only a reaction or two away. For example, never mix chlorine bleach and ammonia: The gas produced (chloramine) is quite dangerous.

Various other uncontrolled toxins spring readily to mind, especially if you look for pest-control poisons and cleaning products.

7

Many toxins are easy to get. We (chemists) usually call them starting materials. Although if the chemical is a known precursor to street drugs, they are all but unobtainable. My college lab partner needed something for his research that took three months of phone calls, DEA paper work and swearing before we gave up and started asking around if anyone else had it.

8

I just saw a list of “precursor” chemicals recently issued by the UK Home Office which are tightly controlled. The category 1 list was self-explanatory, things like lysergic acid and various amphetamine/MDMA-type precursors. The category 2 list was surprising; acetic anhydride, potassium permanganate ( :confused: ) and piperidine were all on it. Imagine having to contact the home office because you needed some acetic anhydride.