CYANIDE

A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the group C≡N. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon  atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom.

Exposure to Cyanide

Cyanide can be used as a poison or chemical warfare agent, but most people are exposed to it unintentionally. Some ways to be exposed to cyanide include:

* Eating cassava, lima beans, yucca, bamboo shoots, sorghum, or almonds.

* Eating apple seeds, cherry stones, apricot pits, or peach pits

Smoking cigarettes.

* Burning plastic.

* Burning coal.

* Inhaling smoke from a house fire.

* Ingesting acetonitrile-based products are used to remove artificial nails.

* Drinking water, eating food, touching soil, or inhaling air that has been contaminated.

* Exposure to rodenticide or other cyanide-containing pesticides.

What Is Cyanide

The term "cyanide" refers to any chemical containing a carbon-nitrogen (CN) bond. Many substances contain cyanide, but not all of them are deadly poisons. Sodium cyanide (NaCN), potassium cyanide (KCN), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and cyanogen chloride (CNCl) are lethal, but thousands of compounds called nitriles contain the cyanide group yet aren't as toxic. In fact, you can find cyanide in nitriles used as pharmaceuticals, such as citalopram (Celexa) and cimetidine (Tagamet). Nitriles aren't as dangerous because they don't readily release the CN- ion, which is the group that acts as a metabolic poison.

Cyanides are extremely toxic and only a small amount of material is sufficient to kill a person. For example, the probability that a person who weighs 160 lbs, (72.64 Kg), who ingests 0.3632 grams potassium cyanide will die within three days is 50 %, and if he ingests 0.55 grams, the probability is over 90 %.

Potassium cyanide is highly toxic. The moist solid emits small amounts of hydrogen cyanide due to hydrolysis, which smells like bitter almonds. Not everyone, however, can smell this; the ability to do so is a genetic trait. The taste of potassium cyanide has been described as acrid with a burning sensation.