Quote:
Originally Posted by manasecret
Interesting question: If you ingest venom, is it still "venomous", or is it now "poisonous" since it is not injected by the animal?
I'm no chemist, but I believe venom is essentially a poison. It's just usually injected by an animal, so it's venomous, not poisonous.
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I'm not a bio major.....My understanding is that venom is a neurotoxin and when injected into your bloodstream it travels through your blood (it probably crosses the blood-brain barrier:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood-brain_barrier) and causes neurological issues which effect your respiratory system, etc.
I assume just digesting something reduces the chance of the neurotoxin from crossing the blood-brain barrier. And my understanding is the alcohol breaks down the proteins that make the neurotoxin harmful to humans thereby eliminating any of the side effects.
Drink up and enjoy.
