Well I know I was fascinated by botulism a few years back. A really small dose is enough to kill. I believe its a really old as far as it's family history goes. I also believe its one of the most deadly substances that man knows about. Including man made substances. I just read that boiling for 10 minutes can help but that doesn't make sense to me because I thought it was the after product of the bacterias food source ... so poo, that was the poison. I don't really have the time to verify any of this though. Here are the symptoms:
The classic symptoms of botulism include double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness. Constipation may occur. The doctor's examination may reveal that the gag reflex and the deep tendon reflexes like the knee-jerk reflex are decreased or absent.
In food-borne botulism, symptoms generally begin 18-36 hours after eating a contaminated food, but they can occur as early as six hours or as late as 10 days afterward.
There are almost no deaths from botulism from what I have read due to modern medicine. If botulism is a risk it may be good for all home brewers to know these symptoms so treatment can begin as soon as possible.
With that being said I'd probably boil then ferment. But then again I'm willing to die for my beer.