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Venom vs Poison (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Ah, but we can go even further beyond in pedantry. This distinction is only exclusive when we're talking about a living thing. When talking about the substances themselves, one is a subcategory of the other. A venomous snake is not poisonous, but a venomous venom is a poisonous poison.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Actually a lot of venom is perfectly edible so long as you don't have a stomach ulcer or cut in your mouth or something.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

This is also true. Poisonous doesn't specifically mean "dangerous when eaten" when talking about the substance. It is an insanely broad category. It basically just means the substance is harmful.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yep, and even when talking about living things it's not a clear distinction.

In biology, poison is a substance that causes harm when an organism is exposed to it. Venom is a poison that enters the body through a sting or bite. In a bunch of medical fields though, poisons only apply to toxins that are ingested or absorbed through the skin and that definition sometimes carries across to zoology.

Venomous creatures are poisonous by most definitions because venom is a poison. But if the distinction is useful in a medical or zoological context then they're not.

tldr: The pedantry of eg. correcting someone who says a snake is poisonous is totally pointless and mostly wrong.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

🤓 ahkschully venom is a poisonous toxin

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