A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical “dihydrogen monoxide.”
And for plenty of good reasons, since:
- it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
- it is a major component in acid rain
- it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
- accidental inhalation can kill you
- it contributes to erosion
- it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
- it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients
He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.
- Forty-three (43) said yes,
- six (6) were undecided,
- and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.
The title of his prize winning project was, “How Gullible Are We?”
He feels the conclusion is obvious.
Comments
One response to “H2O: Dangerous Chemical!”
It was summer of 1997 when I first saw this, when someone in my office (I was an intern at a software development office) received it. The original version is more amusing, as the chemical was identified as “dihydrogen monoxide”, which was later in the piece abbreviated to “DHMO”.
I’m happy to say that I was the only person there who, when the person read the title “BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!” immediately responded “Wait — wouldn’t that be water?”
A version close to what we read in 1997 can be found here. “Highly sophisticated underground distribution network” is my favorite bit. Well, maybe that and “the major component of acid rain”.