Editing Botulinum toxin (section)

===Bioterrorism===
Botulinum toxin has been recognized as a potential agent for use in [[bioterrorism]].<ref>{{cite web |vauthors=Koirala J, Basnet S |date=14 July 2004 |title=Botulism, Botulinum Toxin, and Bioterrorism: Review and Update |work=[[Medscape]] |publisher=Cliggott Publishing |url=http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/482812 |access-date=14 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601225033/http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/482812 |archive-date=1 June 2011}}</ref> It can be absorbed through the eyes, mucous membranes, respiratory tract, and non-intact skin.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/laboratory-biosafety-biosecurity/pathogen-safety-data-sheets-risk-assessment/clostridium-botulinum.html |title=Pathogen Safety Data Sheets: Infectious Substances – ''Clostridium botulinum'' |author=Public Health Agency of Canada |date=19 April 2011 |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124011913/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/laboratory-biosafety-biosecurity/pathogen-safety-data-sheets-risk-assessment/clostridium-botulinum.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The effects of botulinum toxin are different from those of nerve agents involved insofar in that botulism symptoms develop relatively slowly (over several days), while nerve agent effects are generally much more rapid. Evidence suggests that nerve exposure (simulated by injection of [[atropine]] and [[pralidoxime]]) will increase mortality by enhancing botulinum toxin's mechanism of toxicity.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Fleisher LA, Roizen MF, Roizen J |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSQmDwAAQBAJ&q=nerve+exposure++will+increase+mortality+by+enhancing+botulinum+toxin's&pg=PA56 |title=Essence of Anesthesia Practice E-Book |date=31 May 2017 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0-323-39541-0 |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=11 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111023438/https://books.google.com/books?id=RSQmDwAAQBAJ&q=nerve+exposure++will+increase+mortality+by+enhancing+botulinum+toxin%27s&pg=PA56 |url-status=live }}</ref>
With regard to detection, protocols using [[NBC (weapon)|NBC]] detection equipment (such as M-8 paper or the ICAM) will not indicate a "positive" when samples containing botulinum toxin are tested.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wmddetectorselector.army.mil/PDFs/328.pdf |title=M8 Paper |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=16 September 2020 |quote="M8 paper is a chemically-treated, dye-impregnated paper used to detect liquid substances for the presence of V- and G-type nerve agents and H- and L-type blister agents." |archive-date=23 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023152924/https://www.wmddetectorselector.army.mil/PDFs/328.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> To confirm a diagnosis of botulinum toxin poisoning, therapeutically or to provide evidence in death investigations, botulinum toxin may be quantitated by immunoassay of human biological fluids; serum levels of 12–24 mouse LD<sub>50</sub> units per milliliter have been detected in poisoned people.<ref>{{cite book |author=Baselt RC |title=Disposition of toxic drugs and chemicals in man |year=2014 |publisher=Biomedical Publications |location=Seal Beach, Ca. |isbn=978-0-9626523-9-4 |pages=260–61}}</ref>

During the early 1980s, German and French newspapers reported that the police had raided a [[Baader-Meinhof]] gang safe house in Paris and had found a makeshift laboratory that contained flasks full of ''[[Clostridium botulinum]]'', which makes botulinum toxin. Their reports were later found to be incorrect; no such lab was ever found.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=McAdams D, Kornblet S |veditors=Pilch RF, Zilinskas RA |title=Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense |year=2011 |publisher=Wiley-Liss |isbn=978-0-471-68678-1 |chapter=Baader-Meinhof Group (OR Baader-Meinhof Gang |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1002/0471686786.ebd0012.pub2}}</ref>