I became ambroiled in a discussion about a month ago about the toxicity of hydrogen cyanide in apple pips.
I tried to reply to the group having raised the hare but my server would not send the message through.
The evidence on apple pips was anecdotal and concerend a man who was reputed to have eaten a cupful-not 40 pips as I said.
I was mildly concerned that some correpondents tended to equate flavoursome with harmless.
A quick look round the internet gives an accurate account of the toxicity of cyanide and a mention of the earliest recorded fatality in the British Isles in 1679. The fatal potion was cherry laurel water used for flavouring brandy, cakes etc
Regards
David T

One of the worst offenders as far as toxicity is concerned is surprisingly potatoes. I found this on the internet:

Indeed the potato plant is toxic. It contains an alkaloid named solanine ( C45H73NO15) that appears in all the external parts of the plant (leaves, stems , flowers and fruits) and also in the tender buds of the tubers when they germinate. The ingestion of the plant produces gastrointestinal, hepatic and heart damages that can be , in case that the ingestion is high, deathly.

In fact DDT, which has always been quoted as the reason why all man made chemicals will destroy the world, saved hundreds and thousands of lives from malaria and not a single person has been known to suffer any serious side effects from its use- just don't tell all the seabirds whose shells were fatally weakened about this....

"david taylor" wrote in message ...
I became ambroiled in a discussion about a month ago about the toxicity of hydrogen cyanide in apple pips.
I tried to reply to the group having raised the hare but my server would not send the message through.
The evidence on apple pips was anecdotal and concerend a man who was reputed to have eaten a cupful-not 40 pips as I said.
I was mildly concerned that some correpondents tended to equate flavoursome with harmless.
A quick look round the internet gives an accurate account of the toxicity of cyanide and a mention of the earliest recorded fatality in the British Isles in 1679. The fatal potion was cherry laurel water used for flavouring brandy, cakes etc
Regards
David T