toxins

Poisonous creatures are fascinating – from a distance. New Zealand is often touted as a good place for people to...

Poisons are substances that cause harm to organisms when sufficient quantities are absorbed, inhaled or ingested. A toxin is a...

Kōwhai trees litter the banks of rivers and streams and are a popular choice as a border for new roading developments around Aotearoa. Not only are...

Mercury – named after a Roman god known for speed and agility – is a chemical element that has fascinated humans for thousands of years. Mercury...

Lead is a chemical element – a substance that contains only one type of atom. Its official chemical symbol is Pb, and its atomic number is...

Hunting, trapping and poisons are the three most commonly used methods of mammalian pest control in New Zealand. Each method has benefits and limitations. Extensive research...

Aotearoa New Zealand faces a wicked problem – do we kill introduced pests or do we allow them to kill our native animals, damage our forests...

New Zealand uses 1080 to control introduced pests. Decades of research show that 1080 degrades quickly in water and soil. There are also regulations that protect...

1080 is the brand name for sodium fluoroacetate – a manufactured poison. It is the sodium salt of a naturally occurring plant toxin called fluoroacetate. Plants...

1080, or sodium fluoroacetate, is a poison used to control pest species. It is the salt form of a naturally occurring toxin found in poisonous plants...

In 2017, New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge surveyed 8,000 people about pest control, and 84% agreed that pests are a significant conservation problem. However,...

Position: Senior research scientist, Cawthron Institute. Field: Biology – natural toxins, microalgae and microbiology. Growing up with New Zealand’s outdoors as her playground instilled a desire...

Position: Senior Marine Scientist Field: Marine ecology, aquaculture Organisation: Cawthron Institute Dr Dave Taylor is a senior marine scientist at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson. He...

Position: Professor University of Canterbury, researcher, company director, consultant, Eco Research Associates Ltd. Field: Biological sciences, with a focus on the environment and working with Māori...

Position: Technical Manager, Field: Analytical chemistry, Organisation: Cawthron Institute. Paul McNabb worked as the Technical Manager at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson. This involved the management...

In 2009, some grey side-gilled sea slugs (Pleurobranchaea maculata) were found to be toxic following the deaths of several dogs on Auckland beaches. It was not...

Marine toxins are naturally occurring chemicals that can contaminate certain seafood. Naturally occurring toxins are produced by phytoplankton and move through the food web when zooplankton,...

The food we eat can poison us. There are over 200 known diseases that can be transmitted by food. Bacteria or viruses are the main cause...

New Zealand has a very small number of poisonous and venomous animals. The grey side-gilled sea slug (Pleurobranchaea maculata) is an example of a poisonous animal....

There are over 100 poisonous plants in New Zealand. As children grow up, they often come into contact with plants that have poisonous properties. However, children...

The National Poisons Centre (NPC) is New Zealand’s only poison and hazardous chemicals information centre. It is located in the Dunedin School of Medicine at the...

All living things depend on one another to live. Animals eat plants and/or animals to survive. Food webs describe the feeding connections between organisms in an...

Toxicity can be measured by the effect the substance has on an organism, a tissue or a cell. We know that individuals will respond differently to...

Poisons are substances that can be lethal. They are chemicals, either manufactured or naturally produced. We know that everything is made from chemicals, so are all...

The discovery of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in the grey side-gilled sea slug is of particular concern to iwi who live around the Hauraki Gulf. Māori are concerned...