What is the ‘dart frog’ toxin, said to be linked to Navalny’s death?

As we previously reported, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands have accused Russia of using a toxin from poison dart frogs to kill Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. In a statement, the five nations issued an analysis of samples from Navalny’s body, which confirmed the presence of epibatidine. Epibatidine is a neurotoxin secreted by dart frogs in the wild in South America. These small and brightly coloured frogs are typically found in rainforests. It can also be manufactured in a lab, which European scientists suspect was the case with the substance used on Navalny. It works on the body in a similar way to nerve agents, causing shortness of breath, convulsions, seizures, a slowed heart rate and ultimately death.