# is there any substance that kills on contact with the body? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533 "2004-09-01T03:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/21 "2004-09-01T14:34:12Z")
The alkaloid poisons that some species of [tree frogs](http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session2/group13/frogs.html) secrete on their skin can kill on contact. But you’d need to squeeze a lot of frogs to paint a car. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/22 "2004-09-01T14:50:58Z")
**Falling pianos.** “It’s always darkest just before the piano falls on you.” --Oliver Faltz ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/23 "2004-09-01T15:52:26Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Two Australian trees produce a contact poison considerably worse that Poison Ivy. > The Tar Tree and the Stinging Tree. > > See [HERE](http://www.amazingaustralia.com.au/trees.htm) for details, scroll down. Not only do we have poisonous spiders and poisonous snakes, we have **freaking poisonous trees!** Kinda makes you proud to be an Australian _sniff_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/24 "2004-09-01T15:56:08Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Not only do we have poisonous spiders and poisonous snakes, we have **freaking poisonous trees!** Kinda makes you proud to be an Australian _sniff_. Never forget the Australian Paralysis Tick. I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/25 "2004-09-01T16:14:40Z")
Yes, back in the “day” school educational films were often developed to scare children into doing the “right” or “healthy” thing. Many of the driver’s education videos back then were insanely violent, showing extremely gory car accidents to try and make people buckle-up and drive safe. According to a friend of mine who is a driver’s ed teacher, he used the videos in the early 80s without getting in any trouble. He said they had the effect of scaring kids into buckling up maybe that day when they went home from school. But after a few days they’d go back to their old habits. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/26 "2004-09-01T16:55:33Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Methyl alcohol, i.e. Methanol. > Used in small amount added to Ethanol, drinking alcohol, as a denaturant. > Pure or high percentage methanol can kill by absorption through the skin. Yes, it could, but I think it would take more than one would get from merely touching a car door coated with the stuff. And it would be far less than instant, methanol poisoning is a painful death, as your organs all start failing left and right. Also, alcohol evaporates a LOT quicker than water, so unless you know the guy is going to be touching is car in the next couple of minutes, it ain’t gonan work for this puropse. However, if we perfom the old ‘bucket of water above the doorway’ trick with methanol, NOW we’re in business…assuming our business is killing people, that is. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/27 "2004-09-01T18:23:37Z")
From the [Tree of Life](http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Passeriformes&contgroup=Neornithes): > [@](#): > > Some passerine birds are poisonous to the touch and are avoided as prey for indigenous peoples (Dumbacher et al., 1992). It says the toxin is Homobatrachotoxin, but it doesn’t say if it’s lethal or not. The [article itself](http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/24/12970?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=QID_NOT_SET&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=&volume=97&firstpage=12970) says that it’s a neurotoxin, so my guess is that it could kill if there was enough of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/28 "2004-09-01T18:39:10Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Well, antimatter has a pretty good chance of killing you upon contact with the skin. > > Apart from that, contact with as little as 5% of your body with DHMO can kill you within 3 minutes. :dubious: I don’t think he’s asking about drowning. You did mean di-hydrogen monoxide, right? ---
**Author:** ![midget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@midget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midget)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/29 "2004-09-01T18:42:46Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > The alkaloid poisons that some species of [tree frogs](http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session2/group13/frogs.html) secrete on their skin can kill on contact. > But you’d need to squeeze a lot of frogs to paint a car. Come on guys, get it right. He didn’t _paint_ the van with the poison, he just sprayed it on the door handle. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/30 "2004-09-01T18:49:10Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Apart from that, contact with as little as 5% of your body with DHMO can kill you within 3 minutes. Can you imagine? There’s a machine out in the hallway where you press a button, and this stuff comes out in a continuous stream. I tell ya, it’s an accident waiting to happen! ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/31 "2004-09-01T20:40:43Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > But you’d need to squeeze a lot of frogs to paint a car. Well, since we’re now in September, we can start collecting nominations for a new “Best Quote of the Month to be Taken Out Of Context.” ---
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/32 "2004-09-01T21:35:55Z")
ah this is all very helpfull but let me see if i can get a little more specific. this substance was painted on the car handle. as soon as the poor sap touched it, there was an obvious burning sensation and it made a sizzling noise. he pulled his hand back and tried wiping it off. within ten seconds he was foaming at the mouth and then within thirty seconds he was lying on the ground, either or unconcious. is there anything that would do anything even CLOSE to this? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/33 "2004-09-01T22:18:06Z")
Very few things sizzle when they hit the skin. Most of those that do are reacting with the water on the surface of the skin, and would react with water in the air if you painted them on door handles. The sizzle and burn is put in for the same reason that the USS Enterprise makes a wooshing sound as it goes by at warp 9. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/34 "2004-09-01T22:34:51Z")
Maybe----powdered metalic Sodium? Covered in a thin layer of petroleum jelly or silicone gell, to protect it from air? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/35 "2004-09-01T22:54:46Z")
The petroleum jelly would also protect the sodium from reacting with your hands. Even if it did react, all you’d get is a sizzle and burning sensation. You wouldn’t be frothing at the mouth and dead in a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/36 "2004-09-02T01:09:33Z")
A 16-ton weight. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/37 "2004-09-02T01:40:24Z")
What about pointed sticks? ---
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/38 "2004-09-02T05:03:55Z")
ok, ok, the joke has been made. give it a rest. ---
**Author:** ![Somnambulist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Somnambulist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somnambulist)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533/39 "2004-09-02T10:33:53Z")
> [@Fuji Kitakyusho](#): > > ethyl-s-2-diisopropylaminoethylmethylphosphonothiolate > > Deadly stuff. “Doc! Quick, help! I think I touched some ethyl-s-2-diisopropylaminoethylmethylphos… urrggggh” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-substance-that-kills-on-contact-with-the-body/262533.md?page=1)