Alexei Navalny, Photo: Pavel Golovkin / AP – The Associated Press / Profimedia
It is likely that the toxin was manufactured in a laboratory and not taken from the frogs, writes Sky News. In humans, the effects are fatal.
The Russian state has long been accused of using exotic poisons to kill its adversaries – be it the Novichok nerve agent or radioactive isotopes of plutonium. Could Alexei Navalnyi have been killed by the toxin of a poisonous frog?
“I can imagine these types of poisons are interesting [pentru Rusia] because they are quite difficult to detect,” says Dr. Eric Franssen, PhD in clinical toxicology and pharmacology at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis hospital in the Netherlands.
Navalny was “poisoned” in prison by the Russian state, an investigation by five European countries has found
Dr Franssen said: “Because in hospitals we won't detect them in a routine toxicology screening. So maybe this is a way to disguise poisonings.”
The UK and its allies say the toxin was derived from an Ecuadorian turtle. They are produced naturally to repel predators.
Dr Franssen added: “We don't know much about these toxins in humans because you can't of course experiment with these types of toxins in real life, only in animals.”
“But there have been reports that people can die within 10 to 20 minutes of taking this product when they have a certain amount of these toxins.”
This can be done by ingestion or injection into the bloodstream. I suppose then it has a direct effect on the muscles and the heart.”
“And it paralyzes the muscles as well as the respiratory muscles. Then the oxygen level in the blood drops a lot. And also because of the heart failure, the brain is deprived of oxygen, and that can cause death.”
Aleksei Navalnyi, poisoned with the toxin of a South American frog. “Victims suffocate in agony”
