Word: toxins
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...nearly succeeded. In 1997 two Israeli Mossad agents in Amman tried to assassinate Mashaal, who was allegedly running money and supplies to Palestinian militants in the occupied territories, by smearing his neck with poison. Both would-be assassins were caught, and as Mashaal was dying from the lethal toxin, Jordanian authorities made a deal: they would release the captured Mossad agents in exchange for an antidote to save Mashaal's life. The Israelis complied, and the uproar generated by the botched assassination attempt catapulted Mashaal to the top tier of Hamas' leadership, which had been depleted by Israel's targeted...
...after all, is an effective barrier against many kinds of threats. But anytime you get a break in that barrier--even a tiny cut--there's a chance some bacteria will get inside and infect the wound. What makes MRSA germs particularly dangerous is that they excrete a potent toxin that attacks the skin, causing an abscess that's often mistaken for a spider bite. Normally, the body can wall that area off. But if the infection spreads, treatment with antibiotics may be called...
...laboratories, especially since Boston is a “hotspot” for biochemical research and development. The drugs to be developed would slow the build-up in the eye over time of retinotoxic molecules called lipofusins—the cause of AMD—according to Rando. These toxins cause degeneration of the macula, the part of the retina that controls keenness of vision and color vision, sometimes to the point of complete blindness. “Every time light is absorbed in the retina...it produces a chemically reactive by-product,” Rando said. He explained...
...neural-tube defects (NTDs) in unborn children. Often debilitating and sometimes fatal, NTDs such as anencephaly and spina bifida have been linked directly to the tortillas and other corn products in the diets of expectant mothers living along the Rio Grande. Missmer and her associates isolated fumonsin, a fungal toxin often found in American corn crops, as the likely cause of these infants’ cranial and spinal malformations. The study, conducted on mothers of babies born from the early 1990s to 2000, determined that overexposure to fumonsin inhibits fetal ability to absorb folic acid, a compound known to prevent...
...smallpox vaccine is expected in 2006. But more than a year into the program, drug companies still complain that they don't have a clear sense of what to develop and how much the feds will buy. Although HHS has formally identified four threats--anthrax, smallpox, botulinum toxin, and radiological and nuclear devices--that's only the first step. Requests for treatments must then be issued, competing drug proposals have to be evaluated, and the White House's Office of Management and Budget has to sign off on each contract...