Deadly fish poison may ease pain Canwest News Service November 15, 2004 Puffer-fish poison that is 10,000 times more deadly than cyanide might hold the key to a promising new pain medication undergoing tests in Vancouver and across the country. The B.C. Cancer Agency, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital are working with Vancouver-based Wex Pharmaceutical on testing the efficacy of tetrodin, derived from the deadly poison tetrodoxin found in puffer fish (also known as fugu), in treating uncontrollable but stable pain. Fugu is a popular, though daring, dish in Japan where only specially licensed chefs are allowed to prepare and sell it. One puffer fish has enough poison in it to kill 30 adults. Tetrodin is up to 3,000 times stronger than morphine, and is so powerful a single dose is too small to see with the naked eye. C The Gazette (Montreal) 2004 Copyright C 2004 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global Communications Corp. All rights reserved. Optimized for browser versions 4.0 and higher.