Donna's right. We take dried bay leaves out of food because they stay stiff and are somewhat dangerous to swallow. You can buy ground bay leaf which is safe to eat.
From Wiki, where the idea that bay leaves are poisonous came from:
"Mountain laurel leaves are poisonous to certain livestock and are not sold anywhere as a culinary herb (Britannica). This has led to the mistaken belief that bay leaves should be removed from food after cooking because they might poison humans. Bay leaves are safe to eat, however, a person may accidentally swallow a leaf, and the leaves remain stiff even after several hours of cooking. This sometimes causes cutting of the larynx and should be avoided."
Bay leaves come from a number of plants in the laural family, but not mountain laural.
So the problem to be solved is what kind of laural tree you have and is it one of the types that is used as bay leaf? Wiki has some pictures....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_leaf