Use, Abuse, and Misuse of Chemicals

Chemicals surround us. We ourselves are made of chemicals, we need them, and we are absolutely dependent on them. There is no escaping from this fact. Our lives are a festival staged and performed by chemicals. 

However, there are also chemicals we can do without. A living organism always tries to enhance its own survival it is the basic nature of living things. In that effort, an organism may create a substance that is harmful to others this is a natural defense mechanism. Such a substance is a natural chemical weapon and can be harmful to the human body (i.e., natural toxin), and we can do without it. People have used throughout history a variety of chemicals with an intention to harm others poisons (of arsenic, cyanide, many poisons (alkaloids and others) obtained from plants and others), explosives and chemical weapons (mostly neurotoxins). We are better off without them. I must hasten to add, though, that some of these chemicals can be used for useful purposes as well. 

Chemicals, useful or not, can also be misused because of lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of how to handle them. Let us differentiate misuse (incorrect use) from abuse the former involves no intentional improper use whereas the latter does. 

Many of abused chemicals and animal toxins interfere with the functions of brain and its associated organs. Therefore, we will briefly review here the chanistry/ physiology of the brain. 

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However, with knowledge comes the power to misuse it. This is demonstrated by the (thankfully rare) cases of medical professionals, such as Harold Shipman, who abuse their position of trust and murder patients, and it is also seen on a far larger scale when countries at war resort to the use of chemical weapons. Most of the chemical warfare agents used recently, such as sarin, have been developed with a full understanding of the potentially devastating effects they have on the human body. 

There are many different kinds of toxicants. Chemicals that are used for industrial and household purposes can be poison when misused or when there is an accident. Agricultural pesticides in the field can also cause poisoning. Chemicals might come in the form of conventional drugs which we use in a legitimate way, or in the form of designer drugs used illicitly for recreational substance abuse. Natural toxins found in the environment, such as mushrooms, plant toxins, snake/insect toxins and marine toxins, can also inadvertently harm a patient. 

Yannai, S. and Bensal, D. (1983). Gossypol in cottonseed products Toxicology and inactivation. Toxicology in the use, misuse and abuse of food, drugs and chemicals. Arch. Toxicol. Suppl. 6, 167-174. 

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