The dose makes the poison

The dose makes the poison is a phrase that refers to the fact that whether a substance causes toxic effects depends on how much of it is taken. A "toxic" substance is harmless if taken in small enough quantities, and a "harmless" one can be poisonous if taken in large enough quantities. For instance, despite cinnamon being a commonplace and wildly popular spice, consuming too much can potentially cause liver damage because of the coumarin content. Similarly, water intake is essential for survival, but overhydration is still lethal (not to mention drowning). The same principle applies to any other substance. Therefore, a "poison" is something that kills in an arbitrarily short time when an arbitrarily low quantity of it is used.
==Examples==
===Dietary "poisons"===
Pure acetic acid can cause severe burns and many other issues, but humans consume small amounts of acetic acid all the time in vinegar.Material Safety Data Sheet: Acetic acid MSDS ScienceLab.com (archived from February 14, 2018).
One chemical used for rust removal and metal cleaning can cause respiratory and skin irritation, as well as severe damage to the eyes. It's hazardous and classified as a poison.Material Safety Data Sheet: Oxalic Acid Scribd (archived from 15 Oct 2024 02:18:58 UTC). When ingested, it can cause "a severe burning pain of the mouth, throat and stomach followed by profuse vomiting (sometimes bloody). Small doses of oxalate in the body can cause headache, pain and twitching in muscles, and cramps. Larger doses can cause weak and irregular heartbeat, drop in blood pressure and signs of heart failure. Large doses rapidly cause a shock-like state, convulsions, coma and possibly death." This substance is found naturally in many common vegetables, including broccoli, spinach, rhubarb, beets, onions, carrots, celery, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, and potatoes.Oxalic Acid Content of Selected Vegetables USDA (archived from March 17, 2013). It's oxalic acid. Indeed, eating too many oxalic-acid-containing foods can cause kidney stones.Kidney stones University of Maryland Medical Center (archived from March 13, 2017). Sorry, kids, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't eat your vegetables. 
Antivaxxers often call out vaccines because they contain formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen. However, the amount of formaldehyde in a vaccine is much lower than that produced naturally by the body;Formaldehyde American Lung Association. the quantity of formaldehyde in vaccines is 1% that found in the human body.FDA study reinforces no safety concerns from residual formaldehyde in some infant vaccines U.S. Food & Drug Administration (archived from April 5, 2017). In addition, many foods (including pears, apples, cabbages, carrots, green onions, spinach, tomatoes, fish, cheese, and milk) naturally contain trace amounts of formaldehyde.Environmental Health Criteria 89: Formaldehyde IPCS INCHEM.Foods Known to Contain Naturally Occurring Formaldehyde Center for Food Safety, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Nicotine is found in a number of vegetables, including tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.The nicotine contents of vegetables Vidar Holen. The notion that tomatoes don't kill you because they contain "natural" nicotine cannot possibly apply, because the most well-known source of nicotine, tobacco, is also perfectly natural. The extremely small quantity of nicotine found in food may prevent Parkinson's diseasee,Nicotine in peppers and tomatoes may provide protective effect against Parkinson's disease (May 9, 2013) News Medical. and so be good for you, which demonstrates that even a poisonous substance can be beneficial at lower doses.
Foods containing carcinogenic compounds include, but are not limited to, cocoa, celery, cinnamon, parsley, carrots, peaches, pineapples, mushrooms, turnips, and even broccoli.Rodent Carcinogens: Setting Priorities by Lois Swirsky Gold et al. (1992) Science 258:261-265.
One substance which has been described as being "very toxic even in small quantities" can cause gastrointestinal and neurological disorders, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, headaches, dizziness, hallucinations, loss of sensation, paralysis, fever, jaundice, dilated pupils and hypothermia; in large quantities, it may cause death.Potato plant poisoning - green tubers and sprouts MedlinePlus 25.What is solanine and is it toxic? Food-Info.Horrific Tales of Potatoes That Caused Mass Sickness and Even Death: A greened potato indicates the presence of a toxin that can cause gastrointestinal distress, induce coma or even death within 24 hours of consumption by K. Annabelle Smith (October 21, 2013) Smithsonian Magazine. The substance in question is solanine, and is found in potatoes. And before you ask: yes, potatoes can cause solanine poisoning. Tomatoes, paprika, eggplants, peppers, blueberries, apples, cherries, sugar beets, huckleberries, okra, and artichokes also contain solanine.Killer Tomatoes and Poisonous Potatoes? by Harriet Hall (February 14, 2012) Science-Based Medicine.
Vitamin A is essential for proper functioning of the human body. But too much can cause liver damage, as well as other problems. In fact, the material safety data sheets for various forms of vitamin AMaterial Safety Data Sheet: Vitamin A MSDS Science Lab (archived from April 16, 2015).Material Safety Data Sheet: Vitamin A acetate MSDS Science Lab (archived from March 26, 2018).Material Safety Data Sheet: Vitamin A Palmitate AAKO (archived from April 16, 2015).Material Safety Data Sheet: all-trans-Retinal Spectrum Chemical (archived from April 15, 2015). look pretty scary, and (with their descriptions of animal carcinogenicity, skin irritation, etc.) make them sound like things you'd want to keep away from your body at all costs. If you didn't know beforehand what the chemicals in question were, you'd think they were hazardous poisons (and, indeed, they are, like oxalic acid, described as "hazardous"). If the dose did not make the poison, you'd have to stay away from pretty much every food ever.
Many health scares revolve around the presence of a "toxic" compound in a product, such as thiomersal in vaccines. The DHMO hoax parodied chemophobic fear-mongering by listing many scary facts about water, which was referred to by the name "dihydrogen monoxide" (or DHMO). A possible description of water could go along the lines of: "Dihydrogen monoxide can be fatal when inhaled, and forcing people to inhale DHMO is a widely used form of torture. You may not know this, but the air is full of DHMO, which you are constantly breathing in. The chemical is constantly poisoning you every day."
Drinking too much water can be fatal, but receiving minute amounts of Botox — made from the natural botulinum toxin, the most toxic substance currently knownWhat is the world's most dangerous chemical? by Victoria Atkinson (July 6, 2024) Live Science. — is not. Ironically, Jenny McCarthy campaigns against vaccines because of the "poisons" contained in them, yet she has used Botox repeatedly.'I love it!': Jenny McCarthy reveals Botox is the secret to her youthful looks by Mike Larkin (Updated: 02:46 EDT, 27 April 2012) Daily Mail.
Proponents of organic produce point out the fact that it has less pesticide residue than conventional food, but both kinds contain a safe amount, and organic food is not significantly different from ordinary food."Organic" Foods: Certification Does Not Protect Consumers by Stephen Barret (August 22, 2019) Quackwatch.
==Exceptions==
Some heavy metals, particularly lead, can accumulate in the body over time. Current wisdom is that there is no safe level of environmental lead exposure.Low Level Environmental Lead Exposure – A Continuing Challenge by Enrico Rossi (2008) The Clinical biochemist. Reviews / Australian Association of Clinical Biochemists 29(2):63–70.
In the case of drugs, taking small dosages too often can cause the body to develop a tolerance, which would mean that more would be needed to achieve the desired effect (such as pain relief in the case of painkillers) and therefore cause the person to end up taking an unsafe amount.The Neurobiology of Drug Addiction. 6: Definition of tolerance (January 2007) National Institute on Drug Abuse (archived from July 30, 2018). Conversely, in the case of arsenic, low-level consumption over time in an individual can cause tolerance to the point where erstwhile lethal amounts can be consumed without dying.The Facts on Arsenic Dartmouth Toxic Metals.
Another important exception to the rule is alcohol. Despite any potential benefits of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption, medical institutions have failed to find any "safe" level of alcohol consumption; although consuming alcohol in smaller amounts lessens the risk of cancer, there is no threshold below which the consumption of alcohol has no carcinogenic effects.No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health (4 January 2023) World Health Organization.
==Appropriation by experts for hire==
An example of an unscrupulous application of this ancient adage was provided by perhaps the tobacco lobby's favourite expert for hire, S. Fred Singer, in his disinformation campaign against the dangers of second-hand smoke. Alongside another expert for hire, Kent Jeffreys, Singer claimed that because the dose makes the poison, the Environmental Protection Agency had to focus on the threshold effect of second hand smoke and not on its quite obvious harmful effects. Thus, any recommendation on, let alone actions against second hand smoke should be postponed pending the results of research into threshold effects. This was a classic example of the muddying the waters and delaying actions that Singer and his astroturfing front organizations pioneered.
==1986 California Proposition 65, or ignoring the dose making the poison==
Proposition 65 was a ballot measure that passed by 63% to 37% in 1986 and became the law in California. The law states:[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=HSC&division=20.&title&part&chapter=6.6.&article Health and Safety Code - HSC
DIVISION 20. MISCELLANEOUS HEALTH AND SAFETY PROVISIONS [24000 - 26275]] California Legislative Information.
The law went further than the already existing Federal Clean Water Act of 1972,Summary of the Clean Water Act United States Environmental Protection Agency. but notably Proposition 65 did not specify any minimum threshold for chemicals (thus falsely implying that the dose does not make the poison). The result of having no threshold was a proliferation of warning signs on virtually every California gas pump, retail store, even apartment complex and many products, simply to avoid lawsuits, but no other change in behavior.The ridiculed, 37-year-old Calif. law that's changing business across the globe by Tessa McLean (Oct 14, 2024) SFGate.You see the warnings everywhere. But does Prop. 65 really protect you? by Geoffrey Mohan (July 23, 2020
6 AM) Los Angeles Times. The proliferation of warning signs has been analyzed as a "wolf or puppy" warning: so many warnings about non-hazards numb people to warnings about actual hazards.Efficient Warnings, Not “Wolf or Puppy” by Lisa A. Robinson et al. (September 2016) HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series. RWP16-033.
The campaign was notably supported by a large group of Hollywood celebrities, some of whom spread inflammatory falsehoods, one of the worst was Whoopi Goldberg's "The bottom line is that your children are going to die!" The backers did not actually expect the proposition to pass but were using it as a (failed) vehicle to get their candidate elected as governor. After the proposition did pass, its backers were generally unhappy with the results: David Roe (one of the drafters) said, "From my perspective, every warning is a failure."
A rare victory against the inanity of Proposition 65 was the rejection of the requirement for warning labels on coffee.
==See also==
*Dihydrogen monoxide
*E number
*Homeopathy
*Median lethal dose
*Precautionary principle — a tactic that is often used against the dose makes the poison rationale
*Toxin
==External links==
*Everything gives you cancer
*Here are the intriguing toxins that spice up our favorite holiday dishes, Ars Technica
==Notes==
==References==
category:Food
Category:Drugs
Category:Medicine
Category:Clichéed sayings