The truth about Karl:
The poison in fugu (pufferfish) is neurotoxin tetrodotoxin and although it is not always fatal, it can cause an unpleasant death. About 60 per cent of people who eat tainted fugu are killed, according to medical journals.
Within about three to 30 minutes of eating fugu tainted with the poison, victims show symptoms such as weakness, dizziness, a tingling tongue and mouth, nausea, explosive diarrhea and sweating.
Paralysis spreads through the body while the victim remains conscious, and the victim goes into convulsions while breathing is constricted. A person can die of respiratory failure in about six to 24 hours, depending on the amount of toxin consumed, journals said.
Tetrodotoxin poisoning cases are rare in the United States, but medical journals reported that in 1996, three people were poisoned by tainted pufferfish imported from Japan by a co-worker. No one has ever been poisoned by eating fugu at a licensed restaurant in the country, New York sushi chefs insist.
But, if the poison doesn't get you, perhaps the price tag will.
Fugu is an expensive fish. In New York, a complete pufferfish course meal runs about $150 to $200 per person.
