“The world’s oceans are the medicine hunters’ newest frontier: scientists use the mighty power of nature’s venoms and toxins to cure, protect and improve us”

One painful bite from the infamous black widow spider affirms that help can never arrive too quickly following a venomous clash. This documentary relives the spine-chilling experiences of those fortunate enough to have survived life-threatening encounters with nature's poisons.

Both predators and prey have powerful arsenals of chemical weapons for attack and defence: plants ooze noxious secretions, spiders build poison-coated webs, and snakes inject flesh-eating venom.

Humans are now slowly learning to harness the power of toxins for good, transforming plant chemicals and animal venoms into wonder drugs to fight cancer, heart disease and a host of other afflictions.
It seems these ancient poisons we have tried for so long to avoid, may hold keys to our survival.

Poison! is a unique, close-up look at how these poisons work, how they affect the human body and how small doses of venom and toxins can be used to create anti-venom and cures for diseases.

Recreations of real-life examples of near-death experiences include:

• a soldier on patrol in the desert is bitten by a rattlesnake and airlifted to hospital in an attempt to stop the flesh eating enzymes of the snake’s venom destroying his body and killing him
  
• a woman asleep at night has to be rushed to hospital for an anti-venom injection after a bite from a Black Widow spider; the spider’s neurotoxins are 15 times more powerful than the rattlesnake’s venom
  
• a pest controller discovers he is allergic to wasp venom and sees his body swell up, before being given an antihistamine in hospital
  
• a Rough-skinned Newt is swallowed whole by a bullfrog; the lethal tetrodotoxin in the newt’s skin kill the frog within minutes and the newt escapes unharmed through the dead frog’s mouth!
  
• Fugu is a Japanese fish delicacy, made from the highly poisonous Pufferfish; it kills more than 100 people worldwide, yet is one of the most celebrated dishes in Japanese cuisine.
  

We are also shown examples of medicines and cures developed from toxins and venom:

• ACE inhibitors are life saving heart medicines, yet are made from poison
  
• Botox is an effective cosmetic treatment made from very small doses of the Botulinium toxin, the world’s most potent venom
  
• Botulinum toxin is used to help a child with cerebral palsy walk
  
• toxins from the marine Cone Snail produce one of the most effective pain killers.
  

Narrated by Ron David.
Produced by Big Wave Productions for National Geographic Television (2001).