14 Seemingly Harmless Things That Can Actually Kill You

Clear your eyes or stop your heart? Up to you! They just don’t put it that way on the bottle. According to Forbes, people HAVE died from drinking eye drops. Simple answer: Common eye drops contain tetrahydrozoline, which constricts blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. That’s all good when you want to fix your stoned afterparty look, but all bad if you get the half-baked idea to swallow your eye drops…or put them in someone else’s drink. Yeah, seek help. ALL kinds of help. 

There is a recommended dose for a reason. PSA from Healthline: Acetaminophen (aka paracetamol) causes liver damage in large amounts. And the effect of this drug on your liver is cumulative, meaning it builds up over time. You can keep popping your Tylenol all day erry’day and not realize your liver is putting in its two weeks until it’s too late. The symptoms of liver failure can take days to recognize, and the damage is not easily reversible (if you survive). 

Do you have this plant in your backyard? Congrats! You have a lovely taste in floral decor! You also have one of the deadliest flowers in the world at your disposal. According to government studies, one leaf from the nerium oleander plant can kill a grown-ass adult (they gotta eat it, though). Reserve this bouquet for people you really really really could do without.  

Y’all are PROBABLY not trying to drink this, but we thought you should know anyway — because this bright blue liquid really does look just like Gatorade (be careful if you have lil’ ones)! According to the Poison Control Center, windshield washer fluid contains 30%–50% methanol on average. Is that a lot? Yes. Even a small sip of this concentration can poison a person, and without treatment they can become permanently blind or die.

Beyoncé taught us that pretty hurts. She never told us that pretty can kill. For those who don’t know, Botox involves injecting literal neurotoxic proteins into your face. WebMD tells us these toxins paralyze your muscles, which stops your face from wrinkling like last week’s laundry. But in rare cases, these toxins can travel to other muscles that control breathing and swallowing. What happens when your lungs and/or esophagus become paralyzed? Lots of unpleasant things, and you could very well die without treatment. 

What’s this again? Castor oil is vegetable oil often used in soaps, laxatives, paints, and perfumes. It’s made of castor beans, which are NO GOOD for eating raw. Ever. Even five lil’ castor beans can kill an adult, thanks to the poisonous ricin they contain. Ricin is super-duper deadly, according to the CDC. So if castor oil is not properly distilled, it can quickly knock you out, too. 

If your potatoes have fingers growing out of them, you should probably clean out your pantry, go grocery shopping, and delete GrubHub. Any of the above are fine. Whatever you do, DO NOT eat the gnarly potatoes! These vegetables are officially hella old, and they now contain high amounts of glycoalkaloids. What are those? Poisonous. That’s all you need to know. And no, cooking the potatoes won’t help. Maybe you can plant them outside or make a craft project. Just don’t eat them, FFS. 

Don’t even TOUCH it! The poison can seep through your skin and cause problems. Deadly kind of problems. These pretty purple flowers (actually the whole Aconitum genus) contain toxic alkaloids that can stop your breathing and heartbeat fast. Cue clammy skin, nausea, a tingling tongue, and eventual cardiac arrest. Anthropologists discovered that natives of the North Pacific used to rub this plant on their spears to hunt wolves and other big scary things. Don’t let that be you. 

The 2018 meme could be this year’s tragedy. Sensible adults know not to eat laundry detergent pods, but do you? To date, there have been at least eight recorded deaths from people chowing down on detergent pods according to this  this consumer report. I pray there won’t be anymore.

Have you been sucked into the tea tree cult of natural wellness? Honestly, good for you. This impressive elixir (distilled juice from the Melaleuca alternifolia plant) can be used ON YOUR SKIN to treat everything from dandruff to inflammation to pimples. Some wacky (misinformed) healers will tell you it is OK to swallow tea tree oil for its antiviral/antimicrobial properties. Umm, please don’t. The oil becomes toxic when taken internally, leading to vomiting, hallucinations, and coma. Some say you can die, but no deaths have been recorded yet.