NATURAL  THREATS
The NaziComCrimNature displays a quite abundant series
of Violence Threats to daily life:

TORNADOES, STORMS, FLOODS

Harvest destruction by insects

 Lethal PLANTS
Poisonous PLANTS
Cancerogenic PLANTS

[ In preparation: Poisonous / Lethal Animals, Cosmic RADIATION ]
         ASTEROIDS, METEOROIDS, COMETS

 

LETHAL PLANTS

List of  POISONUS PLANT which may be/are FATAL
because [ < ] of chemicals

 Anthurium [leaves < calcium oxalate], Azaleas [all parts < glycosides], Baneberry [seeds & leaves < alkaloids], Belladonna [young plant / seeds < alkaloids], bittersweet [all parts <  alkaloids], caladium [leaves < calcium oxalate], castor bean [seeds foliage < lectins], cherries [twigs & foliage < cyanide releasing compound], crocus [bulb < alkaloids], croton [all parts < oils, resins, alkaloids], crown-of-thorns [all parts <oils, resins, alkaloids], daffodil [bulbs < alkaloids], daphne [berries < mezerein & daphnin], delphinium [young plant/seeds < alkaloids], diffenbachia [leaves < calcium oxalate], foxglove [leaves/seeds/flowers < digitoxin], golden chain [seeds < alkaloids?],  hemlock [all parts < alkaloid], hyacinth [bulbs < glycosides], hydrangea [buds/leaves/branches < ?], indian hellebore [bulbs < alkaloids],  jack-in-the-pulpit [leaves <calcium oxalate], jasmine [berries <?], jimson weed [all parts < alkaloids], laburnum [seeds/leaves < alkaloids], lantana camara [green berries <?], larkspur [young plant/seeds < alkaloids], laurel [all parts <?], lily of the valley [leaves/flowers < glycosides], marsh marigold [seeds & leaves < alkaloids], mistletoe [all parts/berries <?], moonseed [fruits/seeds <?], monkshood [roots/all parts juice < alkaloids], morning glory [seeds <?], narcissus [bulbs <?], nightshade [unripe berries < solanine], oleander [leaves <?], philodendrons [leaves < calcium oxalate], poinsettia [all parts < oils, resins, alkaloids], pokeweed [all parts <?], poppy [all partts, no seeds < alkaloids], privet [berries/leaves <?], robinia [seeds/leaves < lectins], rhododendron [all parts < calcium oxalate], rhubarb [leaf blade <?], rosary pea [seeds/foliage <?], scotch broom [seeds/leaves < alkaloids], skunk cabbage [leaves < calcium oxalate], snow-on-the-mountain [all parts < oils, resins, alkaloids], star of Bethleem [bulbes < glycosides], sun spurge [all parts < oils, resins, alkaloids], tulips [bulbs < alkaloids], water hemlock [all parts <?], yellow jessamine [all parts <?], yew [berries/seeds < alkaloids].
 



POISONOUS  PLANTS
'..thousands of PLANTS in the world are toxic, and thousands of separate toxins are present in these plants. ..Some common Plant foods are toxic, but the hazard is reduced through selection of edible parts or time of harvest, by genetic selection, or by processing.' [R. F. Keeler, 'Toxins in Plants', in The Safety of Foods, H.D.Graham Ed., AVI Publ. Co. Inc.,Westport, CO, 1982]

Some poisonous PLANTS:
     Aconite [Aconitum spp.], Alfalfa [Medicago sativa] , Alsike [Clover Trifolium], Alsike Clover [Datura spp.], Angel's Trumpet [Datura spp.], Amaryllis belladonna [Hippeastrus spp.], Arrowgrass [Triglochin maritima] , Baneberry [Actaea spp.], Belladonna [Atropa belladonna], Birdsfoot Trefoil [Lotus corniculatus] , Bittersweet [Celastrus scandens], Black Locust [Robinia pseudoacacia], Black nightshade [Solanum nigrum], Bleeding Heart [Dicentra spp.], Bloodroot [Sanguinaria canadensis], Blue cohosh [Caulophyllum thalictroides], Blue night shade [Solanum dulcamara], Bouncing Bet [Saponaria spp.], Bracken Fern [Pteridium aquilinium], Broad Beans [Vicia spp.], Buckeye [Aesculus spp.], Buckwheat [Fagoypyrum esculentum], Buffalo Bur [Solanum spp.], Buttercups [Ranunculus spp.], Caley Pea [Latyrus spp.], Castor Bean [Ricinus communis], Celandine [Chelidonium majus], Chinaberry [Melia azedarach], Christmasberry [Heteromeles arbutifolia], Christmas Rose [Helleborus niger], Cocklebur [Xanthium strumarium], Corn Cockle [Agrostemma githago], Corn Lily [Veratrum californicum], Cow Cockle [Saponaria spp.], Creeping Charlie [Glechoma spp.], Crown Vetch [Coronilla varia], Cherries, Cherry Black [Prunus spp.], Cherry Bitter [Prunus spp.], Cherry Choke [Prunus spp.], Cherry Pin [Prunus spp.], Coyotillo [Karwinskia humboldtiana], Daphne [Daphne spp.], Deadly Nightshade [Atropa belladonna], Death Camas [Zigadenus spp.], Delphiniums [Delphinium spp.], Devil's Trumpet [Datura spp.], Dock [Rumex spp.], Dogbane [Apocynum spp.], Doll's-eyes [Actaea spp.], Downy Thornapple [Datura], Drooping Leucothoe [Leucothoe axillaris], Dutchman's Breeches [Dicentra spp.], Elderberry [Sambucus canadensis], English ivy [Hedera helix], Fiddleneck [Amsinckia intermedia], Flax [Linum usitatissimum], Fool's parsley [Aethusa cynapium], Foxglove [Digitalis purpurea], Golden Chain/Laburnum [Laburnum anagyroides], Great lobelia [Lobelia spp.], Cardinal flower [Lobelia spp.], Indian tobacco [Lobelia spp.], Gill-over-the-Ground [Glechoma spp.], Groundsels or ragwort [Senecio spp.], Halogeton [Halogeton glomeratus], Henbane [Hhyoscyamus niger], Holly [Ilex spp.], Horsebrush [Tetradymia spp.], Horse Chestnut [Aesculus spp.], Horse Nettle [Solanum spp.], Horsetail [Equisetum arvense spp.], Irises [Iris spp.], Jack-in-the-Pulpit [Arisaema spp.], Japanese Pieris [Pieris japonica /+ spp.], Jerusalem cherry [Solanum pseudo-capsicum], Jessamine [Gelsemium sempervirens], Jimsonweed [Datura stramonium], Johnson Grass [Sorghum spp.], Klamath Weed [Hypericum perforatum], Lamb's Larkspurs [Delphinium spp.], Lily-of-the-Valley [Convallaria majalis], Locoweed [Aastragalus / Oxytropis spp.], Lupine [Lupinus spp.], Manchineel tree [Hippomane mancinella], Matrimony vine [Lycium halimifolium], Marijuana [Cannabis sativa], Marsh Marigold or Cowslip [Caltha palustris], Mayapple or Mandrake [Podophyllum peltatum], Mexican Poppy [Argemone mexicana], Milkweed [Asclepias spp.], Milo [Sorghum spp.], Monkey [Amanita spp.], Monkshood [Aconitum columbianum /+ spp.], Moonseed [Menispermum canadense], Mountain Fetterbush [Pieris japonica], Mountain laurel /sheep laurel [Kalmia spp.], Nightshade/Black Nightshade [Atropa belladonna], Oak Trees [Quercus spp.], Oleander [Nerium oleander], Onions [Allium spp.], Pigweed [Amaranthus spp.], Poison hemlock [Conium maculatum], Poison ivy [Toxicodendron radicans], Poison oak [Toxicodendron diversiloba],  Poison suckleya [Suckleya suckleiana], Poison Sumac toxicodendron vernix], Potato [Solanum spp.], Poinsettia [Euphorbia spp.], Pokeweed [Phytolacca americana], Ponderosa Pine [Pinus ponderosa], Poppies [Papaver spp.],  Purple Vetch [Vicia spp.], Poppy Prickly [Argemone mexicana], Psilostrophe [Psilostrophe tagetinae], Quarters [Chenopodium album], Ragworts [Senecio spp.], Red Clover [Trifolium spp.], Rhubarb [Rheum rhaponticum], Rosary Pea [Abrus precatorius], Saint John's Wort [Hypericum perforatum], Senecio [Senecio spp.], Sensitive Fern [Onoclea sensibis], Sierra Laurel [Leucothoe davisiae], Skunk Cabbage [Symplocarpus foetidus], Squirrel Corn [Dicentra spp.], Snow-on-the-Mountain [Euphorbia spp.], Sorghum [Sorghum spp.], Spider lily [Hymenocallis americana], Spring rabbitbrush [Tetradymia glabrata], Spurges [Euphorbia spp.], Star-of-Bethlehem [Ornithogalum umbellatum], Stinging Nettle [Urtica spp.], Sudan Grass [Sorghum spp.], Swamp lily  [Crinum asiaticum], Sweetclover Melilotus [Melilotus officinalis], Everlasting Pea [Latyrus spp.], Singletary Pea [Latyrus spp.],Tall Fescue [Festuca arundinacea], Tansy [Tanacetum vulgare], Tiger lily [Lilium tigrinum], Tobacco [Nicotiana spp.], Tung Tree [Aleurites fordii], Vetch [Vicia spp.], Water Hemlock or Cowbane [Cicuta spp.], Western sneezeweed [Helenium hoopesii], White Snakeroot [Eupatorium urticaefolium/rugosum], Wisteria [Wisteria spp.], Wolfsbane [Aconitum spp.], Yellow Star [Centaurea solstitialis], Yew [Taxus spp.].

[References: http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/ppleaf.htm
 http://res.agr.ca/brd/poisonpl/ppcommo2.html
html://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLANTanswers/publications/poison/poison.html
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/indcoa_e.htm ]

                                                                    


CANCEROGENIC PLANTS

'ABOUT 50% OF CHEMICALS
- WHETHER NATURAL OR SYNTHETIC -
THAT HAVE BEEN TESTED IN STANDARD, HIGH-DOSE, ANIMAL CANCER TESTS
ARE RODENT CARCINOGENS.'
[Ames, B.N. & Gold, L.S., 2000, Mutation Research447, 3-13]

'Dietary Pesticides are 99.99% ALL NATURAL. ..Plants produce toxins to protect themselves against fungi, insects, and animal predators. Tens of thousands of these natural Pesticides have been discovered, and every species of plant analyzed contains its own set of perhaps a few dozens toxins. When plant are stressed or damaged, such as during a pest attack, they may greatly increase their natural pesticide levels, occasionally to levels that can be acutely toxic to humans. ..The human intake of these toxins varies markedly with diet and would be higher in vegetarians.
..We estimate that Americans eat about 1.5g of natural pesticides per person per day, which is 10,000 times more than they eat of manmade pesticide residues.
...in chronic cancer tests, only 52 are naturally occurring pesticides. Among these, about HALF [27/52] are CARCINOGENIC.

..the 27 natural pesticides that are rodent CARCINOGENS are present in the following foods:
anise, apple, apricot, banana, basil, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe, caraway, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cherries, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa, coffee, collard greens, comfrey herb tea, currants, dill, eggplant, endive, fennel, grapefruit juice, grapes, guava, honey, honeydew melon, horseradish, kale, lentils, lettuce, mango, mushrooms, mustard, nutmeg, orange juice, parsley, parsnip, peach, pear, peas, black pepper, pineapple, plum, potato, radish, raspberries, rosemary, sesame seeds, tarragon, tea, tomato, turnip. '
[B. N. Ames, M. Profet and L.S. Gold, 1990, 'II. Dietary Pesticides (99.99% All Natural)'
in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA 87, 7777-7781]

Some of the rodent carcinogens present in the above reported natural foods:

Acetaldehyde methylformylhydrazone, allyl isothiocyanate, arecoline.HCl, benzaldehyde, benzyl acetate, caffeic acid, capsaicin, cathecol, clivorine, coumarin, crotonaldehyde, 3,3-dihydrocoumarin, estragole, ethyl acrilate, N2-gamma-glutamyl-p-hydrazinobenzoic.acid, hexanal methylformylhydrazine, p-hydrazinobenzoic acid.HCl, hydroquinone, l-hydroxyanthraquinone, lasiocarpine, d-limonene, 3-methoxycatechol,  8-methoxypsoralen, N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine, alpha-methylbenzyl alcohol, 3-methylbutanal methylformylhydrazone, 4-methylcatechol, methylhydrazine, monocrotaline, pentanal methylformylhydrazone, petasitenine, quercetin, reserpine, safrole,  senkirkine, sesamol, symphytine.
[Ames, B.N. & Gold, L.S., 2000, Mutation Research,  447, 3-13]

Carcinogenity in rodents of natural chemicals in roasted coffee:

Acethaldehyde, benzaldehyde, benzene, benzofuran, benzo-alpha-pyrene, caffeic acid, catechol, 1,2,5,6-dibenzanthracene, ethanol, ethylbenzene, formaldehyde, furan, furfural, hydrogen peroxide, hydroquinone, isoprene, limonene, 4-methylcatechol, styrene, toluene, xylene
[Ames, B.N. & Gold, L.S., 2000, Mutation Research, 447, 3-13]

[See also: Gold, L.S., Slone, T.H. and Ames, B.N. 'Overview of analyses of the Carcinogenic Potency Database.' In "Handbook of Carcinogenic Potency and Genotoxicity Databases.", L.S. Gold & E. Zeiger, Eds., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FA, 1997]

 


CROP DESTRUCTION
BY PESTS
[mostly from: www.fao.org/inpho/compend/text/ch02.htm]

Insect pests inflict their damage on stored products by direct feeding.Some species feed on the endosperm causing loss of weight and quality, while other species feed on the germ, resulting in poor seed germination and less viability [Malek & Parveen, 1989; Santos et al., 1990]. Thus, due to damage done by insects, grains lose value for marketing, consumption and/or planting.

'..the tsetse fly puts about 100 million people and 60 million head of cattle at risk in sub-Saharian Africa due to the transmission of tripanosomiasis .' [ICIPE, 1997]

PEST accounted for pre-harvest losses of 42% of the potential value of crop [eight crops that together occupy half the world's cropland, with harvest wort $300 billion over 1988-1990], with 15% attributable to insects and 13% each to weeds and pathogens. An additional 10% of the potential value was lost post-harvest
[Oerke et al., 1994, 'Crop Production and Crop Protection',Elsevier, Amsterdam].
[American Phytopathological Society, www.scisoc.org/feature/FoodSecurity/Top.html]
 

'Herbivorous insects are said to be responsible for destroying one fifth of the world's total crop production annually.'   [www.fao.org/inpho/compend/text/ch02.htm]
Recent estimates of yield losses due to stemborers[Sesamia calamistis, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Busseola fusca] alone in sub-Saharian Africa are expected to be close of 20-40 percentage of the potential yield[Youdeowei, A., 1989, 'Biological Control:a sustainable solution to crop pest problem in Africa', pp. 31-50; Seshu Reddy, K.V.  & Walker, P.T., 1990, Insect Sci. & its Applications 11, 563-569]
In Tanzania, maize losses of up to 35% may occur due to Prostephanus truncatus in 5-6 months[Mallya, G.A., 1992, Proc. of FAO/GTZ Coord. Meet., Lome, Togo] and up to 60 % after nine months storage [Keil, H., 1988, Proc. Workshop on Containment & Control of larger Grain Borer, Arush, Tanzania, pp.28-52].
Maize is the main staple food in sub-Saharian Africa. In the Kenyan highlands, total losses of maize due to pests were estimated at 57 percentage
[Grisley, 1997] http://www.fao.org/inpho/compend/text/ch03.htm].
In Zimbabwe, grain damage of 92 % stored maize was reported due to insect pests [Mutiro et al., 1992, Zimbabwe J. of Agric. Res., 30(1), 49-58].
In Namibia, up to 30% losses in pearl millet production can take place due to the bush cricket Acanthopolus discoidalis [Wohlleber, B. et al.,  1996, Proc. SADC/ICRISAT Regional Sorghum & Pearl Millet Workshop, Gaborone, Bostwana].
In sub-Saharian Africa insect pests, in addition to fungal diseases, are responsible for 50 percentage damage in cassava [Yaninek, J.,1994, 'Proc. 5th Symp. Internat. Soc. for Tropical Root-Crop', Kampala, Uganda].
Infestations of stored cowpeas can be as high as 90 percentage in markets and in village stores [Alebeek, 1996, http://www.fao.org/inpho/compend/text/ch02.htm  ].
In Kenya, the National Food Policy Document reported up to 30 percentage destruction of harvested maize due to pests during storage and handling [Wongo, L., 1996, Post Harvest Technol., vol.11, p30 ].
In West Africa, up to 100 % damage to cowpeas may happen in a few months after storage due to infestation of Callosobruchus maculatus [Lienard, V. & Seck, D., 1994, Insect Sci. and its Application, 15(3), 301-311].

Post-Harvest losses of grains due to rodents is estimated to range between 2 and 12% on the average, rising up to 20-100% in some countries as Egypt, Belize, Sierra Leone, Korea, Ethiopia [Hopf et al., 1976, http://www.fao.org/inpho/compend/text/ch03.htm].

 LOCUST
Locusts can damage a wide variety of crops. The preferred food of locusts is green
grass and cereals. However, once pasture have been eaten any green plant material is susceptible. Damage from locusts can be from immature locusts that arise from eggs
laid in the vicinity or from locusts that fly into an area. Damage resulting from adult
locusts flying into an area can be sudden, unpredictable and devastating. Migrations of
500-600 km overnight are not uncommon and this behaviour can lead to the sudden appearence of large number of locusts in areas previously uninfested.
In 1984, during a major outbreak of the Australian plague locust, estimated crop loss
was $5 million. Without control, losses would have been $103 million. The damage
caused by an uncontrolled outbreak may reach up to $200 million; in 1990, locust
damage in Australia totalled more than $20 million, after widespread spraying cropping
areas to control about 70% of locust population.[www.agric.wa.gov.au:7000/locust/locust.html]
An extraordinarily huge swarm of these locusts was seen flying over the Red Sea;
it was estimated to be 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) long.
 


TORNADOES, HURRICANES, TYPHOONS, BLIZZARDS  and  STORMS
[by NCCNature]

            Number of  DEATHS Caused  from 1888 to 1994 : 624,365
 ~ 5,890 DEATHS / year
  ~ 16.1 DEATHS / day

 [DEATHS by U.S. TORNADOES: 4,905 / 70 years [1925-1995]
 

FLOODS  AND  TIDAL  WAVES
[by NCCNature]
Number of  DEATHS  from 1883 to 1995:  5,008,959 / 112 years
 ~ 44,723 DEATHS / year
 ~ 122,5 DEATHS / day