The article describes over 200 calls to poison centers in the first 6 months of 2012, with 30 patients among these requiring medical attention and treatment.
And Sir Brian Souter, chief executive of Stagecoach, has even said he would rather "take poison" than hand over control of bus services to the politicians.
ABN's poison-pill approach of handing LaSalle over to BofA was a clear attempt to ward off the advances of the consortium, since RBS is keen to get its hands on the Chicago-based subsidiary.
The European crisis is far from over, but it already has important lessons for the United States, where federal deficit figures are treated as poison darts to be thrown among politicians, rather than as an important problem needing adult solutions.