Poisonous plants of Belize: a mini toxicological review

Abstract

The global increase in the use of plants for food and medicinal purposes, especially in developing countries, proffers an urgent need for toxicological studies on such plants. Results of extensive toxicological studies tend to provide safety information on toxic plants and help avert public health issues while providing safety guides to the public. Belize is a developing nation, and the only English-speaking country in Central America. More than half of the country is covered by rainforest, and many plants are consumed for food and medicinal purposes mostly without regard to the scientific toxicological characteristics of such plants. To the best of our knowledge, presently no published scientific toxicological reports exist on poisonous plants uniquely native to Belize. A careful bibliographic search was therefore conducted on published scientific reports applicable to plants native to Central America, and unpublished reports on poisonous plants of Belize to describe the toxicological information of such plants. A total of 16 plants from 7 families were identified to be toxic. The identified plants were reviewed for their toxicology. 13 plants were reported to be toxic, 2 plants were shown to be non-toxic, and no scientific studies were found for 1 plant. There is an urgent need to conduct toxicological research on plants native to Belize, especially that many such plants are used for food and medicinal purposes.