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An 83-year-old woman in Kluang, Johor has died after eating puffer fish while her husband is still being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). According to state news agency Bernama, Johor Health and Unity Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon in a statement on Tuesday (Mar 28) said that the couple had bought the fish from an online seller on Facebook. He said that it was the couple’s first time consuming puffer fish.

...a curious vehicle spotted off Florida’s Key West last week. Virtually the only part of it above water is a mast supporting an array of antennae. The vehicle is almost certainly a Wave Glider made by U.S. company Liquid Robotics (now owned by Boeing On the surface is a ‘float’ like a 10-foot-long surfboard covered in solar cells driving its electronics. This is connected via a tether to an underwater ‘sub’ unit 30 feet below. As waves move the surfboard up and down, the articulated sub converts up-and-down into forward motion typical speed is just 1.3 knots, but the Wave...

Certain foods that are considered traditional dishes or delicacies in some countries—such as horse meat, foie gras, or shark fins—are actually banned in the United States or certain states. Some foods are verboten because of ethical concerns regarding animal welfare. Still, other foods are prohibited due to concerns over potential health risks to people. Here are six foods banned by Uncle Sam due to health concerns in humans. Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica. This tropical fruit is eaten when fully ripe and is used in an assortment of jams, drinks, and candies. When it’s unripe, however, ackee contains...

In the old days, when fishermen caught pufferfish, chances are they would be thrown back into the sea. After all, pufferfish, from the order Tetraodontiformes, are known to be poisonous to humans as they contain tetrodotoxin, a substance toxic enough to kill a person in a few hours when ingested in amounts of as little as 25mg. In addition to this, there is no known antidote to this toxin, which is considered even deadlier to humans than cyanide. Those days are gone, as some enterprising fishermen have deci­ded that filleted pufferfish can be sold to the unwary. Filleted pufferfish is...

Hospitals in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok have seen an influx of patients with a rare form of fish poisoning. Several people have died. The culprit is the fugu fish – a traditional and popular Japanese delicacy. The catch is you have to cook it very carefully because just one fish contains a poison capable of killing over 30 people. In Japan, only very experienced, specially trained cooks are allowed to dress fugu. Fugu fish are not usually found off Vladivostok, but the warm summer saw their numbers grow. Hungry anglers took it upon themselves to make what they thought...

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- An aquaculture company in Japan says it raised 50,000 fogu, or puffer fish, that are non-poisonous when consumed. The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday while scientists have created a safe version of the potentially deadly culinary delicacy, at least one chef in Japan remains dedicated to the art of carefully preparing puffer fish for customers. Shinichi Ueshima, chef of the Dote fugu restaurant in Yokohama, Japan, said the thrill associated with eating puffer fish is part of the animal's allure. "It's a very tasty fish, but that's not the only reason people choose to go...

Reporting from Tokyo -- Veteran chef Yutaka Sasaki has a plan to remove the fear of eating one of the most poisonous fish on the planet: He wants to feed it to the emperor. The blowfish, known here as fugu, carries a deadly neurotoxin with no known antidote. An average-sized fugu is chock-full of the poison tetrodotoxin -- in its blood, liver and even its sex organs, Sasaki says. But he scoffs at the centuries-old ban on the Japanese monarch eating the delicacy, sought after by many Japanese as daring cuisine. "The prince and other royalty have eaten fugu, so...

Complete title too long for the form. Here's the total title: Lake in the Hills man charged with pufferfish toxin purchase had a $5 million life insurance policy on his wife, authorities say Federal prosecutors also say she was the intended target in 2005, when her husband sought a hit man A Lake in the Hills man arrested after ordering a deadly pufferfish toxin had a cache of weapons in his home and was named as the beneficiary of a $5 million life insurance policy on his wife, prosecutors said Monday. Federal prosecutors also said that the wife, Rebecca Bachner,...

Edward F. Bachner IV spent years prowling dark corners of the Internet, where he sought a hit man to carry out the "permanent retirement" of an unidentified woman, according to a federal complaint filed Tuesday. Bachner, who was accused this week of buying a dangerous pufferfish toxin, suggested in one e-mail that payment for the murder would be an AK-47 assault rifle and $8,000, the complaint alleges. "If we have an agreement, I can send you specific info that will get you within 5 yards of mark on . . . any weekday," Bachner wrote, according to the court record....

(SHIMONOSEKI, Japan) — Poison has been as integral to fugu, the funny-looking, potentially deadly puffer fish prized by Japanese gourmands, as the savor of its pricey meat. So consider fugu, but poison-free. Thanks to advances in fugu research and farming, Japanese fish farmers are now mass-producing fugu as harmless as goldfish. Most important, they have taken the poison out of fugu’s liver, considered both its most delicious and potentially most lethal part, one whose consumption has left countless Japanese dead over the centuries and whose sale remains illegal in the country. But what could be seen as potential good news...