Re: Sleuths! Need your help re: lethal dose

well, there are tinctures and there are tinctures. some ARE made with ethanol, the "non-poisonous" form of alcohol(which is all poisonous, just ask some parents of kids who have chugged everclear on a dare and never woke up). try this link:


http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/i2682.htm


their 2% Iodine tincture is made with ethanol, the kind of alcohol suitable for moderate consumption. nascent and detoxified iodines are alcohol based as well.

notice in the toxicology section of this product info that all the ingredients have seperate stats. there is nothing magical about mixing them that makes them any more or less toxic.

Toxicological Data:
Sodium iodide: Oral rat LD50: 4340 mg/kg Irritation skin rabbit, Standard Draize: 500 mg/24H, moderate; Eye rabbit, Standard Draize: 100 mg/24H, investigated as a reproductive effector.

Ethyl Alcohol: Oral rat LD50: 7060 mg/kg; Inhalation rat LC50: 20,000 ppm/10-hour; Irritation skin rabbit, Standard Draize: 20 mg/24H, moderate; eye rabbit, Standard Draize: 500 mg/24H severe; Investigated as a tumorigen, mutagen, and a reproductive effector.

Iodine Component:
Oral rat LD50: 14 gm/kg; Human LDLo: 28 mg/kg; Investigated as a reproductive effector.

the lowest tested human lethal dose for I2 is 28mg per kilograms of weight. i weigh approx 87kg so the lowest dose that would be lethal to me, according to this, is 2.436 grams of pure iodine. the most total Iodine i have taken before is somewhere over 900mg of which only about 400mg of that is I2. i would have had to have taken about 6 times that much to come close to this lowest lethal dose of iodine.

at this point, one is looking at such extraordinary amounts of Iodine as to be absurd. one is at the level of chugging pure alcohol or drinking gallons of water in less than an hour. can it be done? yea, if you really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really try.

then there is wood alcohol or methanol. this may also be used for iodine tinctures because they figure, "hey, who would be dumb enough to drink it with skull and crossbones on it?" here is the msds on methanol:


http://www.bu.edu/es/labsafety/ESMSDSs/MSMethanol.html


Oral, mouse: LD50 = 7300 mg/kg

the problem with methanol is that it is not broken down as quickly in the liver so it builds up quicker and does damage longer. it is still alcohol poisoning, it just takes a lot less. alcoholics still drink it. they dont care about their liver anyway. it will still kill them if they drink too much. one could drink a whole bottle of methanol iodine tincture and never even get sick, let alone die. there is not enough of any one poison to do anything.

one ml of water equals one gram. using the mouse ld50, it would take about 600ml of methanol to kill me. drunks will get a 16oz(500ml) bottle of rubbing alcohol and drink that. that is a far cry from the 30ml of 2% tincture. it probably wouldnt kill anyone but maybe an infant under ten pounds.