A jury in Australia has found Erin Patterson guilty on three cases of murder and one of the attempt to murder. Weapon of murder: toxic mushrooms.
Prosecutors argued that Patterson deliberately served four members of his family with food parts, including toxic death cap mushrooms in 2023.
Patterson denied being guilty, originally told the police that he used a supermarket store Butroom mushroom, then Asian grocery items in Melbourne. There was no evidence in the search of the search store that poisonous mushrooms were ever sold.
During the test, Patterson said that May was asked for mushrooms for May, but could not say that he had received the death cap.
Why is the death cap mushrooms so deadly?
Name and by nature, death cap mushrooms (Amanata Phaloids) A highly stable toxin called alpha-meanitin is filled. The poison is so stable that it will not break when exposed to heat in cooking.
When a death cap is eaten, people usually do not feel symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea until at least 6 hours later.
During this time, alpha-meanitin toxins are making their way into the body part through the bloodstream.
The toxin acts mainly in the liver, where it causes cells to die in the liver. Alpha-Aminitin RNA binds with polymerase-II enzymes, preventing cells from creating new proteins. Finally, the liver starts closing. Death can occur within 24 hours.
Need careful identification
Amanita Genus of the fungus is famous for her toxic qualities. The group included the story “Todestool” usually known as fly agaric, death caps and “distring angels”. But some other Amanita mushrooms are food.
Most cases of Death Cap poisoning are often a case of incorrect identity – their classic white appearance and domed hat looks like many other types of fungi.
Identification of mushrooms requires knowledge of different parts of the anatomy: hat or fruiting body, gills or spore under the cap, and stip – or stalk.
While the death cap looks like many other mushrooms, a defined characteristic is their bad odor.
Brett Samell, a fungal expert and chief scientist at Australia’s Botanic Garden, said, “They don’t store well, you dehydrate them.
Due to the risk of misunderstanding by amateurs, it is usually recommended that forgors go to food species that cannot be wrong. Of course, forging under the supervision of a trained micologist – a fungal scientist – is usually a safe option.
No death in supermarket
The jury eventually did not protect Patterson-that she mixed ford mushrooms in the same container as a store-bout.
The prosecution argued that Patterson Gyan put toxic mushrooms in the lunch cooked in the house and settled the evidence.
Samarel said that the caps of death can be found in the products purchased “to be honest, honest.”
The Region? Death cap grows only next to oak and middle trees.
Death cap, like many fungi, are mycorezals, which means that they have a symbiotic relationship with the species of the tree. Death cap receives its nutrients from the roots of the nearby tree and returns nutrients to the nearby SIL.
But because they can only grow depending on oak and middle trees, it means that there is no chance of their sprouts in a commercial setting, where the spores are cultivated under highly controlled conditions – and there is no tree in sight.
Australia can get rid of death cap
Death cap is not a native of Australia, nor there are oaks and beach trees that support them. Trees were first introduced from Europe to Australia in the 19th Eknari, and the Death Cap in the 1960s.
Samarel and other micologist are now discussing the possibility of removing oak trees in some parts of Australia.
“We have argued that, in Sydney, if possible, we should start thinking about removing oak trees from some of these suburbs from a public health risk point of view,” Sweet said.
Removing the offered oxes can cause positive benefits, both provide more space for the life of the native Australian plant by removing the risk of top of mushroom poisoning from a public health perspective.
Edited by: Fred Scholor
