This powerful chemical compound acts on nicotinic receptors in the nervous system, according to Johnson.
Because it overstimulates these nerve receptors, if dosed correctly, it can cause muscle twitching, paralysis, seizures, slow heart rate, respiratory failure and ultimately death, she explained.
Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, told PA that its effects can result in breathing being blocked, and that “any person poisoned dies from suffocation”.
The toxin being found in someone’s blood “suggests deliberate administration”, he added.
Epibatidine toxicity can even be “increased by co-administration of certain other drugs and these combinations have been researched”, Hay said.