Browsing by Subject "http://www.yso.fi/onto/mesh/D001694"

Biological toxins are chemical compounds produced by various living organisms. Botulinum toxin is the most toxic substance produced by a biological organism. Botulinum toxin or Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that produces the toxin, can spread to people via food and cause an illness named botulism. Biological toxins are potential agents to be used as biothreat agents. Currently the use of biological organisms and their toxins is prohibited by the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It is very useful to study biological toxins but at the same time there is a possibility of misuse. This phenomenon is called dual-use. One of the recent dual-use issues was the discovering of a new botulinum toxin subtype.