[ RadSafe ] Re: Toxin

[JGinniver at aol.com]

James, you might want to look in a dictionary or two, I've provided a few  
links and quotes to get you started. 
 
_www.dictionary.com_ (http://www.dictionary.com)  defines toxin as  - 
A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living  
cells or organisms and is capable of causing disease when introduced into the  
body tissues but is often also capable of inducing neutralizing antibodies or  
antitoxins.
 
 
Miriam Webster (_www.m-w.com_ (http://www.m-w.com) ) defines toxin  as - 
a poisonous substance that is a specific product of the metabolic  activities 
of a living organism and is usually very unstable,  notably _toxic_ 
(http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=toxic)   when introduced into 
the tissues, and typically capable of inducing antibody  formation 
 
_www.yourdictionary.com_ (http://www.yourdictionary.com)  defines  toxin as -
 
A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by  living 
cells or organisms and is capable of causing disease when  introduced into the 
body tissues but is often also capable of inducing  neutralizing antibodies or 
antitoxins. 
 
 
_www.encarta.msn.com_ (http://www.encarta.msn.com)  defines toxin  as-
poison from living organism: a  poison produced by a living organism
 
_www.askoxford.com_ (http://www.askoxford.com)  defines toxin as - 
noun a poison produced by a  micro-organism or other organism and acting as 
an antigen in  the body.
 
_www.wordsmyth.com_ (http://www.wordsmyth.com)  defines toxin as - 
any of a group of poisonous substances  secreted by microorganisms
 
_www.bartlyby.com_ (http://www.bartlyby.com)  (american heritage  dictionary) 
defines toxin as -
    A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is  produced by living 
cells or organisms and is capable of  causing disease when introduced into the 
body tissues but is often also  capable of inducing neutralizing antibodies 
or antitoxins.   

My personal favourite as it came out a real book on my desk is Chambers  
Science and Technology Dictionary, which defines Toxin as
A poisonous substance of biological  origin.