Word: fugues
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ends Ian Fleming's delightful spy novel, From Russia with Love, with James Bond's fate left hanging. Agent 007, of course, survives to brave new dangers in Doctor No, in which it is revealed that he had been dealt a near fatal dose of fugu poison. "It comes from the sex organs of the Japanese globe-fish," an eminent neurologist tells Bond's boss. "It's terrible stuff and very quick...
...direct violation of a presidential order. In keeping with the draft convention of the U.N. Disarmament Conference, Richard Nixon five years ago ordered the destruction of all stocks of toxin weapons. But the CIA held on to 10.9 grams of saxitoxin, a close chemical cousin of the fearsome fugu, along with eight milligrams of a toxin made from cobra venom. That minuscule stockpile is enough, said Church, to kill "many thousands of people...
...just as in Fleming's account. Saxitoxin is produced by a single-cell sea creature that flourishes during the warmest months. Oysters, clams and mussels that eat the organism are poisonous to humans, which is why in some areas such seafood is not harvested in summer. By contrast, fugu poison, which has almost the same effect, is always present in the sex organs and liver of Japanese puffer fish. Hence in Japan chefs who prepare puffers are required to learn how to make the fish edible...