You will explode if you touch them. This is what the Hypersensitive Overly Concerned Middle-Upper Class Soccermoms Association of America, or HOCMUCSAA, told me, so it must be true.

HA ............. I like your sense of humor.

I've been growing them for 4 years here in NC. I am not sensitive to them, and sometimes I wear gloves when handling them. I've heard of a few folks getting the juice in their eyes when stripping leaves off for fall storage. They've had pupil dilation, and I think blurred vision for 24 hours. These plants are in the tomato family, Solanacea. Peppers, potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, all belong. These plants are toxic if eaten, but who'd want to?I prefer the fruit and flowers to the leaves any day!

Do a search on plants that can cause irritation, and I think you will find it will include most all of them. We are wise enough to use them as intended and not try to test to see if they really are toxic. I don't worry about any of this........have enough to worry about with plain old poison ivy.

The Solanaceous plants are toxic but many of them are grown in our vegetable gardens without raising the alarm. We grow Potatoes, Tomatoes, and millions smoke tobacco.

These plants are safe as long as you are careful. If you are cutting into the plant or doing anything that will cause exposure to sap then wear gloves. Never ingest any part of a Brugmansia or Datura, especially the seeds.
The drugs Scopolimine and Atropine are derived from this group of plants. If you have ever had an eye exam then you may have had Scopolimine drops added to your eye to dilate and temporarily paralyze your pupil. The patches used to treat motion sickness are also of this drug group.

The only way to get a high dose of the drug from a plant would be to eat the leaves, flowers, or seeds. You could certainly develop dilated pupils and an uneasy feeling if you were to get the sap on your skin but I doubt that anything more would occur. I have had this reaction personally and it was due to hand removal of leaves from my plants.
Toxcicity is all a matter of dose. Plain old water can kill you if you drink enough over a short period of time. Just be careful and limit your exposure if you are concerned.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Scopolimine

I have to worry,Im on the transplant list for a kidney,I just wondered if someone could tell me ,I didn't think people were gonna give a nasty reply,sorry

I re-read the posts, and did not find anything I would consider "nasty", just informative, and I thought you were looking for information. Sorry you feel some of us may have been unpleasant. Hope everything goes well for you.

I'm positive that the answers were meant to be humorous and not nasty!

As the others have already mentioned, you need to be careful with many plants. These are no more toxic than oleander and many folks don't give a second thought to growing those. Use common sense and protect your eyes when cutting and removing leaves and you will be fine. I get skin irritation more from my pencil cactus and plumeria than from brugs although I have gotten sap in my eyes when removing ugly leaves and it feels odd, just like a visit to the ophthalmologist. I did pocket a datura seed once and had a numb thigh for 24 hours afterward..those things are pokey. If you are still concerned after reading the precautions, then they would likely be an unwise choice for your garden.

The posts were meant to be humor. I fear that if they upset you, then brugs are not your cup of tea, lighten up, and smell the roses

Bulldinkie- As for the post above- It is definitely uncalled for and definitely mean spirited!

I'd suggest avoiding gardening in general until you check with your medical team- just to be safe. Brugs are beautiful- and not a problem unless you handle them, so either wear waterproof gloves or have someone else do any touching. Gardening feeds the soul so do it safely. Best wishes for a transplant soon.

As for the post above- It is definitely uncalled for and definitely mean spirited!