Using Nature's Toxins

Throughout history, human beings have learned to use natural toxins for help. For instance, the native or indigenous peoples that have lived in the rainforest for thousands of years discovered how to use poison from the poison arrow frog. They learned how to safely take out or extract this poison and put it on their arrows in order to hunt. ThatÕs how the poison arrow frog got its name!

Doctors around the world have also used curare, a poison from a rainforest vine in South America, to anesthetize or safely put patients to sleep during operations. Although natural toxins can be deadly, there are many cases where they can be helpful.