Walter White: Castor beans.
Jesse Pinkman: So, what are we going to do with them? Are we just gonna grow a magic beanstalk? Huh? Climb it and escape?
Walter White: We are going to process them into ricin.
Jesse Pinkman: Rice ’n Beans?
Walter White: Ricin. It’s an extremely effective poison.—Season 2, Episode 1: “Seven Thirty-Seven”
Poisons have long been a favorite mode of murder for fiction writers. They’re the sexy, secret substances of spycraft, supposedly undetectable and untraceable, the key component to committing the perfect crime. From Joseph Kesselring’s play Arsenic and Old Lace (later adapted into Frank Capra’s classic 1944 film of the same name) and the many and varied killer chemicals used by Agatha Christie (who gleaned her knowledge of poisons while working in hospital pharmacies during the World Wars) in her classic mysteries, to modern murder mysteries and procedural thrillers, perhaps it’s no surprise that poisons made their way into a show as heady as Breaking Bad.
There is, however, a surprising amount of “murder by poisoning” in this show, or at least attempts to do so. The subtle-but-sinister killers are often overshadowed by more overt violence at the hands of drug dealers (or Heisenberg himself), but their psychological impact on viewers is longer lasting. Breaking Bad fans, including yours truly, should get goose bumps at the mere mention of the words “ricin” and “lily of the valley.” (You’re forgiven if you don’t remember the show’s brief mention of saxitoxin.)
Ricin, teased throughout the series, is the “Chekhov’s Gun” of Breaking Bad. (The expression “Chekhov’s Gun” refers to Anton Chekhov’s famous storytelling advice: “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don’t put it there.”) The first appearance of ricin occurs in the Season 2 premiere, “Seven-Thirty Seven,” where Walt conceives of the idea to use it in order to eliminate psychotic Mexican drug kingpin Tuco Salamanca, no muss, no fuss. This didn’t go as planned. Walt found another chance to whip up a batch of ricin in Season 4, Episode 7: “Problem Dog,” this time with the intention of killing Gustavo Fring. That didn’t work either, but at least the ricin wasn’t used to poison Brock Cantillo—the son of Jesse’s girlfriend, Andrea—despite Jesse’s assumption to the contrary. The potent poison comes back into play in the final season where it’s a constant threat to anyone who challenges Walt. Ultimately, it’s Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, Gus Fring’s methylamine supplier, who is the sole character to die from ricin poisoning in the series finale, “Felina.”
Ricin itself is made in the seeds, or “beans” (they’re not true beans) of the castor oil plant. Poisonous through inhalation, injection, ingestion, or absorption, ricin messes with the body’s protein-making machinery and shuts down cells’ most basic functions. Depending on the dose of ricin and how it enters the body, symptoms will differ and can take hours or days to appear, an aspect that makes it appealing for fictional poisoners who need to stymie investigators and establish alibies. Symptoms following ingestion include severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and difficulty swallowing, followed by bloody feces and vomiting blood; inhalation and absorption symptoms range from a cough and fever to symptoms resembling a severe allergy. Symptoms can persist for up to a week, but ultimately, without treatment to minimize the poison’s effects, organ failure and effects on the central nervous system can lead to death.
Lily of the valley, meanwhile, needs no modification to be poisonous. This unassuming woodland plant is nearly as notorious as ricin as far as Breaking Bad fans are concerned. Sometime during the events of Episode 12, Season 4: “End Times,” Walt (or someone acting on Walt’s orders) poisons Brock with the lily of the valley plant, which the child’s doctor later confirms. This is done off-screen, but the Season 4 finale “Face-Off” closes on a shot of the plant in Walt’s backyard patio, strongly implying his role in the poisoning of the boy. Jesse figures it out for himself thanks to Saul’s involvement in the aptly titled Episode 11, Season 5: “Confessions.” Walt himself cops to the meticulously planned poisoning in Season 5, Episode 13: “To’hajiilee.”
The brightly colored berries of this sweet-smelling flowering plant may draw the most attention—especially for children—but the stems, leaves, and flowers are also poisonous if ingested. The plant contains more than three-dozen chemicals that can affect the heart, and even small amounts can cause abdominal pain and vomiting, a reduction in heart rate, blurred vision, drowsiness, and rashes. Children and pets are particularly susceptible since they’re more likely to eat the plant, but treatment is possible.
Oh, and saxitoxin? This one probably won’t immediately come to mind since it was only mentioned in passing by Marie during Season 5, Episode 12: “Rabid Dog” as a potential method for permanently taking out Walt, whom she and Hank know to be Heisenberg at this time. While Marie is in no danger of breaking bad here—beyond a little shoplifting now and then—saxitoxin is no joke. Let’s just say that the chemical’s potential for paralysis might have you second-guessing that extra order of shellfish since the nasty neurotoxin made by some marine dinoflagellates and freshwater cyanobacteria accumulates in these otherwise tasty treats.
To understand how all of these poisons affect the human body and to see how close Breaking Bad actually came to reality, we’ll have to get a little more advanced.
Jesse Pinkman: He’s not sick, he was poisoned.
Gus Fring: How did that happen?
Jesse Pinkman: The doctors, they don’t know.—Season 4, Episode 12: “End Times”
Toxicology is a multidisciplinary study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living things, along with the diagnosis and treatment of exposure to said substances. These chemicals include toxins, which are produced within living cells or organisms, and toxicants, which are artificially produced. The area of study overlaps with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, medicine, and nursing, pulling from a lot of disciplines for a very specific purpose. The threat of poisoning is not only a fantastic way of adding drama, intrigue, and tension to the plot of Breaking Bad, it’s also a perfect cross-section of the many scientific disciplines on display.
While ricin tends to get the lion’s share of the attention on the show, there are other poisons referenced and used throughout Breaking Bad. Let’s look at each of them in turn:
This potent neurotoxin accumulates in shellfish like scallops, clams, oysters, and mussels; it’s also been found in puffer fish and tilapia. Saxitoxin is water-insoluble, heat-stable, acid-stable, and can be stored in shellfish for several weeks or up to two years. The toxins are not eliminated by ordinary cooking methods. In humans, it’s the toxin responsible for the illness known as “paralytic shellfish poisoning” or PSP.
Saxitoxin works as a neurotoxin that blocks sodium channels of neurons, which means that it prevents normal cellular function, leading to paralysis. Basically, if these cells aren’t allowed to function normally, communication with the afflicted region of the body becomes impossible and paralysis occurs. While this gives the outward appearance of leaving the victim calm as the PSP symptoms progress, they’re still conscious right up until death from respiratory failure. Its median LD50, shorthand for “lethal dose, 50%,” or a given dose required to kill half of a test population after a certain period of time, is only about 5.7μg/kg (micrograms per kilogram), or 0.57mg for a 100kg (kilogram) individual, if ingested; for perspective, this amount is smaller than a grain of sand. The lethal dose is about ten times lower (50μg for a 100kg individual) for saxitoxin entering the body through a wound or injection. When aerosolized, saxitoxin toxicity is around 5mg·min/m3 (milligram-minutes per cubic meter), a measurement that takes variable breathing rates into account. (For example, breathing in one milligram of saxitoxin per cubic meter of air for one minute equals 1mg·min/m3; breathing in two milligrams of saxitoxin per cubic meter of air for thirty seconds, or half a milligram of saxitoxin per cubic meter of air for two minutes, also equals 1mg·min/m3.) This extremely low value made saxitoxin a worthwhile candidate for weaponization by world militaries; it’s listed under Schedule 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, meaning it has few if any uses outside of chemical weaponry.
Treatment includes gastrointestinal decontamination with activated charcoal and gastric lavage (stomach pumping or gastric irrigation) with an alkaline solution since it reduces the toxin’s potency, along with around-the-clock monitoring and airway management to deal with respiratory paralysis. Drugs used to improve muscle weakness have yet to go through clinical trials for evaluation, however.2 Luckily, no one on the show had to be a guinea pig (which are, ironically, even more susceptible to the toxin than humans) since the highly lethal saxitoxin was only mentioned once. To quote Hank: “Jesus, Marie!”
This lovely-sounding flower is quite common with varieties arising in China, Japan, Eurasia, and the United States. Every part of Convallaria majalis is poisonous, from its bright orange-red berries and sweet-smelling flowers to its spreading, underground stems (or rhizomes) and leaves. This toxicity comes as part of the plant’s natural defense systems that evolved to keep animals from eating it. The specific poisonous power of the lily of the valley is due to the plant’s thirty-eight or so cardiac glycosides, which are organic compounds that inhibit the heart muscle cell’s sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (Na+/K+-ATPase) pump. This important cell membrane enzyme is vital to cell physiology, so when the glycosides alter the pump’s function, heart rate decreases and both the force of the contractions and the volume of blood pumped increase. This sounds bad, but it can actually be therapeutic in treating arrhythmia and congestive heart failure, historically; synthetic drugs have replaced the naturally occurring chemicals due to toxicity concerns and to better control dosages.
However, the glycosides found in lily of the valley plants can do a fair amount of damage in other areas of the body besides the heart. The main culprits are the chemicals convallarin, convallamarin, and convallatoxin. In addition to the circulatory system effects, symptoms of lily of the valley poisoning can include afflictions of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and throat (blurred vision, and yellow, green, or white halos around the eyes*); the gastrointestinal system (diarrhea, loss of appetite,* stomach pain, vomiting or nausea); the skin (a rash or hives); and the nervous system (confusion, depression,* disorientation, drowsiness, fainting, headache, lethargy, and weakness). *These symptoms are seen only in chronic overdose cases.
Suspected poisoning should be followed up with immediate medical help, which is exactly what Andrea Cantillo did by taking Brock to the hospital when he fell ill. In the scene, Andrea describes his condition as being like a flu that keeps getting worse, which jibes with many of the symptoms listed above; Brock was ultimately admitted into the pediatric ICU for care. Treatment includes the monitoring of vital signs, consumption of activated charcoal, assisted breathing, and intravenous fluids; severe cases may require use of an electrocardiogram to monitor heartbeat and a temporary pacemaker.3 All of this is to say that Brock’s physical response to being poisoned with lily of the valley seems accurate; it’s actually Walt’s assertion that he planned out exactly how much to give the boy that’s a bit specious due to all the factors involved.
Ricinus communis, also known as the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a perennial flowering plant found in the southeastern Mediterranean region, Eastern Africa, and India, and is the only species in its genus. The plant’s seed, the castor bean, is comprised of about 50 percent castor oil and the water-soluble toxin known as ricin. This highly toxic chemical is a lectin, a protein that binds carbohydrates. Even more specifically, it’s classified as a Type 2 ribosome-inactivating protein, a mouthful of a name that’s helpfully but ironically shortened to RIP. The two protein chains present in this chemical work together to invade and alter cells, inhibiting protein synthesis by preventing the ribosome’s messenger RNA from assembling amino acids. Without this essential function of cell growth and maintenance, cells, tissues, and systems soon start to break down. RIP, indeed.
If ricin is ingested, say by unknowingly pouring a packet of it into your chamomile tea, the effects could show up in as little as six hours.
Fun Fact: Ricin, a protein, can be denatured at temperatures above 80°C/175°F, which is right in the range of the temperature at which hot beverages are served. Walt got lucky on this one.4
While it’s possible that the ricin could be degraded by enzymes in the digestive system, any surviving ricin could still cause injuries to the mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract.
Within a matter of hours of ingestion, or possibly up to five days after, pain, inflammation, and hemorrhaging of the GI tract’s mucous membranes can occur. These symptoms progress in severity to the point that a patient experiences bloody vomit and stool. Due to all this fluid loss, low blood volume can lead to pancreas, kidney, and liver failure, followed by shock, indicated by disorientation and stupor, weakness and drowsiness, and excessive thirst along with low urine production and blood in the urine. Despite all of these nasty symptoms, ingesting castor plant seeds prevents much of the ricin from entering the body’s systems due to the seeds’ indigestible coat. However, thoroughly chewing the beans and chowing down on more than a half-dozen or so of them can prove fatal to an adult since the pulp contains more ricin ... which is exactly why Walt processes out the oil and concentrates the leftover toxin.
A quick montage in the Season 2 premiere, “Seven Thirty-Seven,” shows Walt and Jesse making ricin from castor beans, which makes this a great time to remind you to never try this at home. Ricin is monitored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is classified as an extremely hazardous substance, one that’s subject to strict requirements by production, research, and storage facilities. But purely for intellectual curiosity, Walt’s process of removing the beans’ outer coats, cooking them, mashing and filtering the pulp, and using solvents to extract the ricin is essentially spot-on.5
Fun Fact: In the ricin-making montage, peanuts were used to stand in for the castor beans.6
If Walt’s ricin was as pure as his methamphetamine was known to be, he would have needed about a grain of salt’s worth of the toxin to take out Tuco, Gus, or Lydia. And since there’s no proven antidote available, once it’s been delivered, the deed is all but done; death can take place between thirty-six and seventy-two hours after exposure.7
This all sounds rather nasty, but with sufficient treatment most patients will fully recover. The CDC suggests avoiding ricin exposure in the first place, which sounds like good advice. However, if you happen to run up against Heisenberg and suspect that you’ve been poisoned by ricin, the two main approaches to treatment are to rid the body of ricin as quickly as possible and to provide support related to the symptoms. Quick removal and disposal of clothes, along with washing yourself, is the first step in minimizing ricin’s effects. Depending on the manner of exposure, treatment includes breathing support, IV fluids, medications to treat seizures and low blood pressure, flushing the stomach with activated charcoal, and washing out the eyes. Counterintuitively, neither induced vomiting nor consumption of fluids should be recommended to someone thought to have ingested ricin.8
While it’s possible that Lydia Rodarte-Quayle is actually still alive out there in the world somewhere—especially since Walt gave her the exact manner of her poisoning and she had been exposed to the ricin about twelve hours earlier, giving her plenty of time to seek medical attention—there’s one more case of poisoning that has a more definitive ending. This one uses a mystery poison that the Breaking Bad creative team isn’t divulging, but one that was researched extensively by writers assistant Gordon Smith.9
Just what, exactly, the offending chemical is supposed to be, we may never know, but it was used by Gus Fring in Season 4, Episode 10: “Salud” to poison the entire Mexican cartel leadership by spiking the (fictional) tequila, Zafiro Añejo. We see Fring consume the poisoned potable as well, but he’s also seen inducing vomiting—which you should never do; it’s counterintuitive but only a small amount of the poison actually is expelled in vomiting while the rest is driven deeper into the digestive system.
Additionally, in the related Breaking Bad Insider Podcast episode, Gilligan says that Fring takes activated charcoal tablets to slow the effects of the poison.10 This allows him the time to get the medical attention he needs to save his life as the cartel leadership dies in a fairly rapid and unpleasant manner. For my money, I’m betting Gus used cyanide since it’s a fast-acting poison that can cause dizziness and loss of consciousness within a few minutes, followed by cardiac arrest, but we may never know for sure.
If you ever have questions about poisoning or poison prevention, even if it’s not an emergency, you can call the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, or visit www.poison.org.