Poison is the collective name for a multitude of chemicals or mixtures of chemicals that have the potential to harm an organism’s vitality, with a multitude of different properties.
According to Indiastudychannel the shelf life of poison depends on its chemical reactivity and thermal stability. Many chemicals, when stored properly according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, will not degrade or disintegrate suddenly. Therefore, at the end of the shelf life, they will be retested according to the scientific method and the shelf life can be extended. All this depends on how reactive the substance is.
A product’s shelf life is just an indication of how long it will last. Because, no chemical goes bad in one day and no chemical is good the day before and the next day is bad. The effectiveness of the product will gradually decrease over a period of time and after the expiration date, its quality will gradually decrease.
So about the toxicity of the drug when it expires, the answer is: it depends on the poison and how you store it.
When left unused for a long time, they must be exposed to oxidizing agents, UV rays, heat, steam, … every day and will transform into new substances. The individual toxicity and the way in which the body digests them will play a role in determining whether the poison will become more dangerous or lose its effectiveness.
Most herbicides, insecticides, fungicides… will decompose over time and gradually lose their effectiveness after an average of 3-5 years. Although it takes quite a while after the expiry date on the package for the drug to be completely deactivated, like all chemicals they are recommended to be destroyed because the effective dose is now available. has changed significantly.
Most herbicides, insecticides, fungicides… will decompose over time and gradually lose their effectiveness after an average of 3-5 years.
It is very difficult to accurately calculate this period without the help of a laboratory, and increasing the dose is sometimes effective, sometimes not.
A very common example is rat poison, because rats are extremely resistant, so most can be immune to the reduced toxicity of the bait. If the medicine has expired and you have to mix more medicine, they will definitely smell it because the odorant that deceives the mice’s hearing also degrades over time.
The majority are like that, but there are still a few types that, when denatured, become much more dangerous substances.
For example, the well-known herbicide is 2,4D (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) for a long time will produce Dioxin . There are pesticides that denature when exposed to water and produce very strong neurotoxins or cause weakness, death to plants, significantly reducing crop yields.
Fortunately, you can easily recognize this type of poison with two characteristics: a short expiration date and often printed with an additional expiration date (shelf-life).
In addition, we also have natural poisons that are protein in nature extracted from the venom of poisonous species such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, etc. Their use or not because the direct application and popularity is quite low, but based on its main composition, we can also fully predict that these toxins are unstable, very easy to denature and lose their properties. Clean effect if left too long.
In short, the organic group is mostly ineffective, but the remaining possibility is not impossible.
Inorganic poisons are not like that, but usually before or after the term is equally toxic . Their shelf life is often a reminder that after this date, they have been chemically modified.
This type often has heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, etc. – not only toxic in the form of a single element but also potentially more harmful when present in the compound. Under normal conditions, it is rare for them to be transformed into something harmless.
In some special cases, the poison is still completely toxic , but the way it affects the organism is slightly different. The most typical is arsenic, which, once modified, is more toxic (requires only a small dose) but takes longer to develop.
Arsenic once transformed will be more toxic.
Thus, each type of poison around us has its own manifestations when it is past the expiration date and certainly the dosage, method and effectiveness at this time are far from what is stated on its packaging. With the magic of chemistry, anything can happen so for the best – no matter how long it takes, poison is still poisonous.