The Straight Dope: How do we know poisons are tasteless and odorless?

[View this message as a web page]( [The Straight Dope]( 04/07/2017 Dear Cecil: The recent dispatch of Kim Jong-nam by VX poisoning is all over the news at the moment, and reports invariably describe VX as odorless and tasteless. How would anybody know what a substance this toxic tastes or smells like, short of a heroic self-sacrifice by the assessor? Even inhaling this stuff seems foolhardy to me, let alone voluntarily giving it a lick. — Mike Caudwell Cecil replies: Surely, Mike, you’ll recall the first principle of toxicology, distilled from writings of the 16th-century medical pioneer Paracelsus: "Sola dosis facit venenum,” or “The dose makes the poison." Inhaled or ingested in great enough amounts, the idea being, any substance will take you down, including necessities of life like water and oxygen. Conversely, your body can process nearly anything in sufficiently small quantities and keep on kicking. Even an encounter with the notorious nerve agent VX can be survived, though I can’t discourage this kind of field research strongly enough. For more, see: [( STRAIGHT DOPE STAFF REPORT — 11/22/2000 Dear Straight Dope: Isn't it true that birds do not have receptors for capsaicin, the protein that makes peppers hot, so birds will still eat the peppers and disperse the seeds? I don't remember where I heard this. Did I just dream it? — Christopher Vittore SDStaff Colibri replies: Birds will happily eat the hottest of hot chili peppers, a fact so well known that some varieties are popularly known as "bird peppers." For anyone who has ever "enjoyed" a five-alarm mondongo at a Mexican restaurant, two questions will immediately leap to mind: (a) How can such featherweight creatures consume enough incendiary material to vaporize a camel and still show no signs of discomfort? and (b) hokey smokes, Josephine, what do you suppose that will do to their tiny bungholes tomorrow morning? For more, see: [( STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC — 01/14/2000 Dear Cecil: Why is prostitution illegal? — Frank Carroll, Arlington, Virginia Cecil replies: Because hookers are a nuisance, that's why. Always around when you don't want them, and never there when you do. For more, see: [(/a> YOUR AD HERE! Your direct line to thousands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks. For rates and details contact Rich at [rhummel@suntimes.com](. Copyright © 2017 Sun-Times Media, LLC. This email was sent by The Straight Dope, Sun-Times Media, LLC., 350 N. Orleans, 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60654 [Unsubscribe/update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. To change or update your newsletter subscription preferences, or to unsubscribe from all Chicago Reader and Straight Dope newsletters and promotional communications, [click here](. Please allow 72 hours for this change to take effect.