# Scientifically possible to have poisonous people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365 "2010-03-22T17:59:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/1 "2010-03-22T17:59:57Z")
I remembered some old stories that I read back in my youth. Basically the deal is that some young girls were dosed with increasing amounts of poison until it spread through their system rendering them poisonous. If these women had physical contact with someone they would be poisoned. Of course, what constitutes as contact depends on the target audiences age 🙂 So, is such a thing even remotely possible? My guess is that it isn’t, because most poisons have some nasty side effects. Also, if they are accumulating in the body over a long period, it probably wont be doing any good (Kinda like heavy metal accumulation) Link: > **[Vishakanya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vish_Kanya)** > > The Vishakanya (Sanskrit: à€”à€żà€·à€•à€šà„à€Żà€Ÿ, romanized: ViáčŁakanyā) were young women reportedly used as assassins, often against powerful enemies, during the times of Ancient India. Their blood and bodily fluids were purportedly poisonous to other humans, as was mentioned in the ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BCE). > In the Skanda Purana, a girl who is born when the sun is in the c... ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/2 "2010-03-22T18:33:29Z")
I don’t know about a case wherein the subject stays healthy, but I believe a person (his corpse anyway) could become radioactive. FWIW, Rob ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/3 "2010-03-22T18:45:27Z")
Rappachini’s Daughter is the name of the Nathaniel Hawthorn story. IIRC ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/4 "2010-03-22T18:59:04Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#): > > I don’t know about a case wherein the subject stays healthy, but I believe a person (his corpse anyway) could become radioactive. One of the victims of the [Goiania accident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_incident), in which some Brazilians found cesium-137 in an abandoned hospital and were exposed to radiation from it, was buried in a lead coffin, sealed with concrete. Leide das Neves Ferreira had eaten some cesium-137 and put some of it on her body (she was 6 years old). Someone was at least concerned about the possibility of radiation from her corpse, rightly or wrongly, if those precautions were taken. Before she died, she was in an isolated room in a hospital for a while, because some hospital staff were afraid to go near her. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/5 "2010-03-22T19:37:55Z")
Constantly ingesting non-fatal amounts of poison is called Mithridatization, after Mithridates VI of Pontus who so feared being poisoned by his enemies that he constantly ingested poison to build up his tolerance to it. According to legend, it worked so well that when he was about to be captured by the Romans, he tried to poison himself (because being killed by the Romans would have been a much longer and much less pleasant way to go), but didn’t die because he had built up his immunity so much. He had to ask his bodyguard to kill him instead. This actually does work, to varying degrees, depending on the substance involved. There was a preacher who was slowly being poisoned by his wife with arsenic. She expected the poison to slowly build up in his system and kill him, making it look like he suffered from a long term illness and finally died. After a while she got impatient, and gave him a dose that was something like three times the amount that would normally be fatal. However, because he had been ingesting arsenic for so long he had built up enough of a tolerance that instead of dying he only ended up in the hospital. Folks who handle poisonous snakes also sometimes inject themselves with increasing doses of snake venom so that they build up an immunity. It’s a smart thing to do if you are in this line of work since an accidental snake bite could easily be fatal. There are some poisons that just build up in the body and kill you though, and even if you ingest low levels of them you don’t really ever build up a good immunity to it. So it’s not a universal thing. These folks don’t end up becoming poisonous themselves, though. They just end up with a high tolerance to substances that would be fatal to you and me. The closest thing I can think of to someone becoming poisonous is the case of Gloria Ramirez, aka the “Toxic Lady”. On Feb. 19, 1994, she was brought into the Emergency Room in Riverside General Hospital in California, in respiratory and cardiac distress, and soon went into full cardiac arrest. One of the nurses drew blood (standard procedure for this type of case) and noted a foul odor coming from the patient’s blood, and passed out. The doctor took a sniff from the syringe that the nurse used, and also passed out. Four other members of the ER staff also passed out. To make a long story short, the patient died, and no one ever figured out why the ER staff all passed out. It seemed that Gloria had somehow become poisonous, but an autopsy failed to find any toxin that could explain what had happened. It’s not quite the same as the Vish Kanya in the OP, but it is a case where someone (maybe?) became poisonous to others. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/6 "2010-03-22T19:47:35Z")
What about applying something to the body that the victim specifically is allergic to, but the assassin not? Of course, all I can think of right now as an example is a very attractive woman smearing peanut butter on her lips :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/7 "2010-03-22T19:53:28Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Of course, all I can think of right now as an example is a very attractive woman smearing peanut butter on her lips :dubious: I’m not going to search for it, but there’s probably some sort of fetish site for that online. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/8 "2010-03-24T15:43:26Z")
Wow! The Gloria Ramirez thing sounds exactly like what I was looking for! As for the allergies, interesting angle. I never thought of it. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/9 "2010-07-10T01:10:06Z")
> [@chromaticity](#): > > As for the allergies, interesting angle. I never thought of it. Not wishing to unnecessarily bump old threads, but on the subject of my squads of elite peanut butter toting femme fatales, “[‘Nut’ kiss lands Bedfordshire schoolgirl in hospital](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds_bucks_and_herts/10539034.stm)”; > [@](#): > > A 14-year-old girl from Bedfordshire with a nut allergy had to go to hospital after a kiss from a boyfriend who had eaten a cereal with hazelnuts. > > A trace got in to Laura Kukic’s system at school and her face swelled up and breathing became difficult in minutes. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/10 "2010-07-10T01:25:27Z")
This idea is called the **poison Maiden**. Adrienne Mayor rites about it in her book **Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World** > **[Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological & Chemical...](https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Poison-Arrows-Scorpion-Bombs/dp/1590201779)** > > Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological & Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World \[Mayor, Adrienne\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological & Chemical Warfare in the... Unfortunately, not only isn’t it true, it’s represented by very few stories in the ancient world - they’re relatively recent, and from India. As mentioned above, the idea appears in the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story **rapaccini’s Daughter**. It’s been filmed twice – once by Roger Corman, in **Twice-Told Tales**. It was an attempt to do with Hawthorne what he’d done with Poe, but it wasn’t a big success. Nevertheless, it gives us a chance to see Vincent Price as Rapaccini. > **[Twice-Told Tales (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice-Told_Tales_(film))** > > Twice-Told Tales is a 1963 American horror anthology film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Vincent Price. It consists of three segments, all loosely adapted by producer/screenwriter Robert E. Kent from works by Nathaniel Hawthorne. > Each of the three sequences is introduced by Vincent Price (in a voice-over). Price also stars in all three narratives. > Two elderly friends, Carl Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot) and Alex (Price), meet to celebrate Heidegger's 79th birthday. They discover that Heide... ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/11 "2010-07-10T01:32:45Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Rappachini’s Daughter is the name of the Nathaniel Hawthorn story. IIRC [Rappaccini](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rappaccini's_Daughter) There’s also [a comic being released in Japan](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7160808-dokuhime-poison-princess-volume-1) about such women. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/12 "2010-07-10T01:35:43Z")
> [@chromaticity](#): > > Wow! The Gloria Ramirez thing sounds exactly like what I was looking for! Cecil Adams [devoted a column to her case.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/999/whats-the-story-on-the-toxic-lady) ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/13 "2010-07-10T03:33:25Z")
I was radioactive for a brief period. Whilst being treated for hyperthyroidism I was given a ‘radioactive pill’ and was told that for the next 2 weeks I should avoid contact with other people where possible which meant no kissing/sex and I had to sit down to urinate in case I missed and got some on the seat. Not exactly the stuff superhero franchises are based on but if I felt malicious I could have run around urinating on people though even if I had I suspect the result would have been very minor/non-existent. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/14 "2010-07-10T04:03:48Z")
> [@chromaticity](#): > > Wow! The Gloria Ramirez thing sounds exactly like what I was looking for! > As for the allergies, interesting angle. I never thought of it. Please note her “fuming toxicity” was never confirmed and this is cited by some as a textbook case of mass hysteria. See [Gloria Ramirez - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Ramirez) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientifically-possible-to-have-poisonous-people/533365/15 "2010-07-10T05:21:47Z")
I can believe the DMSO explanation for the Ramirez case. I once met somebody who was taking it. This guy smelt unbelievably awful. Garlic, my foot. He smelled like a ton of rotting mackerel. I think it was oozing out of every pore on his body.