Posts by Alexander Thompson

dustymarlin10 said:Sure, but it's still not smart to touch them with your bare hands without gloves, right? It's possible for toxins to absorb through your skin and mess with your system...
I mean, obviously, it's not going to hit you as hard as if you actually swallowed it, but still...
To an amateur, a Jack o'Lantern looks a lot like a Chanterelle from a distance, though I have no clue how someone managed to mistake a green Jack o'Lantern for anything edible in the first place...
This whole situation should serve as a massive wake-up call for anyone thinking about foraging.
Seriously, if you aren't 100% certain what it is, just leave it alone.

Look, I'm not saying you absolutely can't touch them, but all those stories about getting poisoned just from skin contact feel a bit more like urban legends to me—at least, the serious textbooks don't really dwell on that possibility... What I will say is, don't toss them straight into your basket, because those (pretty fragile) little bits could easily "contaminate" everything else you've picked.

That confusion over the green pupa (which changes color quite a bit, I think) could totally happen to an amateur looking at immature mushrooms—where, if I had to guess, an underdeveloped Amanita phalloides might actually slip past you.

rustypanther39 said:That should serve as proof he wasn't poisoned just by touching it. Now, whether he actually knew what he was picking—assuming his wife was the one who actually ate it—well, I suppose the medical examiners will have to dig through his other organs to find that answer.🙄

There's really no harm in touching them. I've picked and handled dandelion mushrooms plenty of times... even just the other day, mostly just to get the right shot for my photos...

And then there's this part above: 'Here you go, honey, I brought you some lovely mushrooms...'

rustypanther39 said:I'm on the same page—you can't get poisoned just from skin contact. He mentioned he tossed all his finds and didn't eat a single thing. The only way he could have felt sick is if he skipped washing his hands after foraging and had a little cut in his mouth.🤷 . We won't know for sure until he checks in.🙏

Also, looking at that first link about Jack O'Lantern poisoning, it says the husband gathered some and brought home a Jack O'Lantern that his wife ate, which ended up poisoning her. So how is he perfectly fine? 😉🙂

http://americannews.com/2009/07/18/mushroom-poisoning-report/

I remember seeing that article right when it dropped... honestly, you'd have to be pretty out of your mind to mistake a toxic lookalike for a common dandelion

feralharbor89 said:Hey there, Scott Allen10!
I have to say, I am genuinely surprised by this. Up until now, I’ve always seen you as someone who possesses both deep knowledge and true wisdom.
It is common knowledge among anyone who spends any time studying fungi that even just touching such a nasty mushroom—which explains why he tossed out those porcini they were sharing the basket with—can be enough to cause poisoning.
I really hope he made it to the doctor!

Not really... I mean, touching a Jack O' Lantern definitely isn't going to poison anyone... I guess carrying one in a basket mixed up with edible mushrooms is a terrible idea, sure... but I'll stick to my guns: if he didn't actually eat it, he didn't get poisoned.

Besides, the Jack O' Lantern is basically the one mushroom you should never even taste just to identify it...

And yeah, they've been popping up everywhere this year... honestly, if you don't know your mushrooms, you really shouldn't be messing around out there.

Walter Mendoza81 said:Okay, thanks—and they aren't even running lung tests or anything like that, so thank you, really. I mean, I get that there’s probably a tiny chance something might show up, but honestly, the FEAR is just overwhelming. Nobody in my house smokes; my mom actually quit seven years ago just so I wouldn't pick up the habit or start breathing in all that smoke, or whatever the reason was... so yeah, basically, I'm just SCARED... but seriously, thanks. Oh, one more thing—how old are you, and what's your actual name so I can properly thank you? You're Nikolina, right?

Anonymous😉 man, just stay away from cigarettes. Even just a few a day is enough to get you hooked, if you ask me 🙂... I'm trying to kick the habit myself—it's been about five months since I last smoked, but I started back when I was eleven 😉. Quitting isn't exactly a walk in the park. Just run from it while you still can!