Dear Cecil,
In your recent column on the damaging effects of Mexican vanilla that contains coumarin, you neglect to mention a very important side bar to it.
You do mention that dicumarol, a derivative of coumarin, is used as rat poison. That VERY SAME rat poison (crystalline warfarin) is used in humans to prevent strokes.
Yes, the very same chemical that is in a grey block in a box marked “Rodent Control” under my sink is the same one, just diluted, that sits in my pill bottle.
Interestingly enough, the brand name for warfarin is Coumadin, startlingly close to “coumarin,” isn’t it?
Just thought you’d want to know.