Does beet sugar contain a WWII poison?
Dear Cecil: I recently heard a rumor that sugar processed from beets contains traces of a poison used as a combat weapon in World War II. Is this true? What’s the difference between beet sugar and cane sugar, anyway? — tomlobur Cecil replies: A good rumor, which this is, is like an Indiana Jones movie. There’s a grain of truth to it, life and death are at stake, and you know Nazis are somehow involved. First the scholarly intro. Prussic acid, better (and more scarily) known as hydrogen cyanide, is a toxic chemical that kills through metabolic asphyxiation, meaning it destroys your body’s ability to use oxygen. You can be poisoned by inhaling it, eating it, or absorbing it through your skin. It’s widely found in nature: many plant seeds, including apple seeds, cherry and peach pits, and bitter almonds, contain amygdalin, which metabolizes into cyanide if the seeds are eaten. (In the 1845 murder trial of Australian pharmacist John Tawell, who poisoned his wife with prussic acid, defense
