On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 16:35:26 +0100, "david taylor"
wrote:

Don't eat the kernels!
I've worked on a sodium cyanide plant and know the smell, toxicity limits
etc of HCN. The kernels of plums ,apricots etc are used for flavouring jams,
but I read once that some health fiends killed themselves by eating about
40 apple pips(smell the HCN when they are cracked) in a muesli.
The interesting point about cyanide is that if you have a sub-fatal dose you
recover without permanent ill effect.
I once had a sub lethal dose, which had the effect of disorientation. We had
rushed off to the golf course after work and the effect was to double what
was already a poor score for the course.
Regards
David T

Quote from http://www.aboutmead.com/resources/m...9/12-01-99.txt

"Apple seeds average around 0.6 mg hydrogen cyanide (HCN) per gram of
dry seed. Since the lethal dose of HCN is estimated to be about 50 mg,
you need around 85 grams (3 ounces) of dry seeds. This is around half
a cup"

Whether the figures are correct, and whether it takes 40 apple pips to
half-fill a cup, I don't know, but it does suggest that eating a
particularly large number could be lethal.

However, seeds (and leaves) of many prunus species (almonds are the
obvious example) and other rosaceae (such as apples, as here) contain
cyanide precursors. It's what gives almonds their distinct flavour.
But, as with apple pips, you do have to eat rather a lot to be at
risk.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net