# Is liver poisonous **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 9, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232 "2003-07-09T14:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Xiphos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/48db29/32.png) [@Xiphos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xiphos)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/1 "2003-07-09T14:17:53Z")
[Liver](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_218.html) It can be worse than that! The livers of canivores tend to be enriched in Vitamin A, which sounds fine except that Vit. A is more poisonous than cyanide taken chronically. Certainly hunting people who have canivores as part of their diet (usually bears) avoid eating the liver. There is sufficient Vit. A in polar bear liver for a few grams to be fatal. Apocraphyl: Some whalers were supposed to have shot and consumed a polar bear. Those individuals unwisely partaking of the liver had such an increase in intra-cranial pressure, their heads split open. Yummy! ---
**Author:** ![SandWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@SandWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/2 "2003-07-09T15:41:28Z")
Heads splitting open from eating polar bear liver? Do you have a cite for that? Head splitting aside, is the 20 year old answer still valid? Is there any effect of using growth hormones on cattle that they grow up faster and have less time to collect trace metals in their livers? And what about eating liver acting as an enabler for people to consume mass quantities of genetically modified onions or tomatoes in ketchup? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/3 "2003-07-09T20:07:06Z")
Iso-tretinoin toxicity can cause increased intracranial pressure. [http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/rastinejad/ret.pdf](http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/rastinejad/ret.pdf) > [@](#): > > Isotretinoin(13-cis retinoic acid). > Trade names: Accutane, Roaccutane, Accure, IsotrexGel. \* Availability: in tablet or gel > > - Toxic dosage: Overdose has produced headache, facial flushing,vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness and staggering. Serious overdose is expected to cause symptoms similar to vitamin-A toxicity. Changes in vision may indicate the beginning of toxicity to the cornea. Increased intercranial pressure has been reported. Symptoms include headache, vision changes, nausea. > **[Increased intracranial pressure: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia](https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000793.htm)** > > Increased intracranial pressure is a rise in the pressure inside the skull that can result from or cause brain injury. > [@](#): > > Increased intracranial pressure is almost always indicative of severe medical problems. The pressure itself can be responsible for further damage to the central nervous system by decreasing blood flow to the brain or by causing the brain to herniate (push through) the opening in the back of the skull where the spinal cord is attached. Sudden herniation through the foramen magnum (back of the skull) is fatal. > > Many conditions can cause increases in the intracranial pressure including metabolic, toxic, traumatic, infectious, neoplastic and idiopathic. It doesn’t create enough pressure to cause the skull bones to actually split, because long before it would build up enough pressure to crack the bones, it would bulge out–herniate–out through the back of your skull. And you’d be dead. Which isn’t _quite_ the same thing as “their heads split open”. But it’s pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Cobweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Cobweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Cobweb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/4 "2003-07-09T20:59:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SandWriter \* > \*\*Heads splitting open from eating polar bear liver? Do you have a cite for that? \*\* Try [this link](http://www.bartleby.com/61/81/A0368100.html). ---
**Author:** ![SandWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@SandWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/5 "2003-07-10T17:55:47Z")
Okay, so the brains can come flying out the back of your head, definately close enough to the visual of a head splitting open. Thanks for the cites. But what about the liver? Is it still as dangerous as it was 20 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/6 "2003-07-10T19:00:20Z")
By the way, my brain is herniated through the foramen magnum. The lower tip of my brain is down all the way to the space between my second and third vertebrae (C2 and C3). However, I was born this way, so it didn’t happen suddenly. I tell everyone that it’s because my brain is just too large for my skull (which is XXL anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/7 "2003-07-13T04:05:19Z")
Of course it’s toxic. It least it _tastes_ toxic. Why is it that so-called delicacies always taste atrocious? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-liver-poisonous/187232/8 "2003-07-13T14:59:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Why is it that so-called delicacies always taste atrocious? Because _so-called cooks_ (Hi! Mom.) don’t know how to cook liver. They choose the cheapest kind and cook it well-done, ensuring that the final product causes the eater to immediately wonder if his sneakers are still in his closet. 😃