Toxins are usually poisonous substances produced by living cells or organisms. The definition may also stretch to being those poisonous substances produced by artificial methods, which may be by-products of material development. The contamination of the atmosphere has a lot to do with manmade by-products which can be chemicals produced as waste during a factory production, automobile emission, motor usage or decay of certain compounds.
Small molecules that have chemical properties to affect biological functioning to the extent of paralyzing or even killing a life process are mostly the kind of toxins that get produced by living bacteria or defective cells.
Toxic medication on the human body can cause the following -
Toxic dilation of colon occurs as a complication in terms of inflammatory bowel or ulcerative colitis. The regular symptoms can be abdominal pain and tenderness, dehydration, fever and rapid heart rates.
Toxic injury of kidney can be caused by exposure to lead, cleaning substances such as solvents, fuels, long term usage of pain killing drugs and alcohol. The general symptoms are abdominal pain, backaches, drowsiness, blood laced urine, nausea and pale skin.
Toxic Hepatitis can be drug related effects on the human body causing malfunction in the liver. It is usually the NSAIDs and antidepressants that have been primary drug related causes of toxic hepatitis. Apart from these birth control pills, erythromycin, anabolic steroids, amiodarone and isoniazid are other drugs that are known to bring about a possibility of toxic hepatitis. The side effects include diarrhoea, jaundice, loss of appetite and fatigue.
Toxic shock syndrome and nodal goitre are also possible effects of toxic medication.
Other sources
Insects and regular organisms are also known to produce toxins. However most of the everyday life organisms are not really known to produce fatally harmful toxins and they are mostly classified as mild toxin producers. Toxins produced by organisms, or bio-toxins, can be classified as those produced either for a defence purpose or a predatory one. Spiders, snakes, jellyfishes, scorpions and wasps are known to produce predatory toxins while bees, ants and the poison dart frogs have a defensive purpose in building up the toxic chemicals.
