Time Magazine article

[Jolt]

Whatever you do, stay away from Dihydrogen Monoxide. It's also pure chemicals! But no one talks about this substance. "They" tell you that it's a necessary part of all foods and beverages (it's particularly heavy in beverages), and even have the gall to say that it's a necessary part of good hygiene (as if!) but too much of it has been proven to be fatal, even from only inhalation - not even actually consumption! That's not even the half of it. You really need to read the site to learn about the full dangers from DHMO!

Oh, and after you finish the link I gave you above, you might want to go to Wikipedia to learn more about DHMO.

Since I'm part of the group "people", and therefore I already annoy you, I'm not worried about annoying you more. ; )

Highly recommended that you check this out and educate yourself about DHMO.

[witeowl]

Highly recommended that you check this out and educate yourself about DHMO.

You know, I still can't believe that regulatory agencies aren't mandating that DHMO be included on ingredient lists. We can't even properly keep track of our exposure.

[maillotpois]

yup, that stuff'll kill you....

Is that website for real? It is a total crack up. "Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks." Snort!

[NoNo]

Laugh all you want, but I don't trust any of those "just like sugar!" sweeteners. If I want something sweetened, I'm going to use sugar, not a sugar-like substance created in a lab. No one knows what the long term effects of these newer, "safer" sweeteners are. Why take the risk? Oh, that's right. The FDA has never approved something that later turned out to be harmful.

[Owlie]

Laugh all you want, but I don't trust any of those "just like sugar!" sweeteners. If I want something sweetened, I'm going to use sugar, not a sugar-like substance created in a lab. No one knows what the long term effects of these newer, "safer" sweeteners are. Why take the risk? Oh, that's right. The FDA has never approved something that later turned out to be harmful.

I agree with you on the sugar substitutes, really. (Trichlorinated sucrose...yum... ) At least I know what real sugar does. I took the DHMO comments to be in response to your comment about them being "pure chemicals" because, well, sugar is a chemical as well...

<..and so the chemistry major slunk back into the shadowy corner of the lab, to only be seen during events offering free food>

[witeowl]

Laugh all you want, but I don't trust any of those "just like sugar!" sweeteners. I

For the record, I wasn't poking fun at your aversion to artificial sweeteners. People avoid all sorts of products for all sorts of reasons.

I just wanted to point out the folly behind what appeared to be a fear of chemicals. Everything is chemicals. We are chemicals. (Well, to a point...)

That's all.

[smilingcat]

Sadly many people will fall for the humor as real. Dihydrogen monoxide => hydrogen hydroxide (going up from potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide so its only natural to call it hydrogen hydroxide).

It's almost as bad as one of the techs at my office telling me about HHO fuel technology.

well whether you add chlorine or fluorine to the end of the sugar molecule or any other thing, its probably a not a good thing. If its not natural, your body may not know what to do with it. Sometimes, your body may break it down in most unexpected way and it may be quite disastrous. Something benign turns into carcinogenic substance. Chlorine is a very strong radical and fluroine more so. If they were to become free radicals in your body oh my

anyway... I stay away from ALL artificial sweetners. I think they are all bad. Mind as well drink soft drink with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is very bad. just my 2cents.

[OakLeaf]

If they were to become free radicals in your body oh my

And remember just 15 or 20 years ago when the medical community reacted to the idea of "free radicals" and "acid-forming foods" as though we were discussing "dihydrogen monoxide."

[witeowl]

Sadly many people will fall for the humor as real.

True. That is why I pointed out to Wikipedia in this case (which openly points out that it's an old hoax). People did very much fall for it as real years ago when it started as a petition years ago. And that, really, is the point, isn't it?

I'm not going to eat hemlock just because it grows and is a completely natural, unprocessed food. I'm also not going to stop using sodium chloride just because it sounds a little scary.

People are free to make decisions about what they ingest as they see fit. But they need to be educated about the decisions they make, and they need to know what they're saying before they attempt to impact others' decisions.

[Jolt]

For the record, I wasn't poking fun at your aversion to artificial sweeteners. People avoid all sorts of products for all sorts of reasons.

I just wanted to point out the folly behind what appeared to be a fear of chemicals. Everything is chemicals. We are chemicals. (Well, to a point...)

That's all.

Exactly! That said, there are chemicals that our bodies are well equipped to handle (such as sugar in moderation) and those that they aren't. Artificial sweeteners fall into that second category, and they just play into the craving for unnatural levels of sweetness rather than solving any problems. It's better to learn to eat naturally sweet things like fruit when we want something sweet, and stay away from the sweetened processed foods.

[Owlie]

Highly recommended that you check this out and educate yourself about DHMO.

*Snort* Jolt and witeowl, I love you.