Many years ago, I came across the Material Safety Data Sheet for dihydrogen monoxide. These are the sheets that government agencies put together with the manufacturer outlining the known hazards and first aid treatment for the chemical listed.
This sheet included such lines as: "Potential Health Effects: The toxicological properties of this material have not been investigated. Use appropriate procedures to prevent opportunities for direct contact with the skin or eyes and to prevent inhalation," and under First Aid Measures:
"Eyes: Flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes, occasionally lifting the upper and lower lids. Get medical aid immediately.
"Ingestion: If victim is conscious and alert, give two - four cups of milk or water. Get medical aid immediately."
There was even a note to physicians to "treat symptomatically and supportively."
Yes, the government wanted to warn us about this dangerous industrial pollutant, a product of combustion, known to cause human death and disease. They want to ensure anyone coming in contact has appropriate and immediate treatment.
This, of course, could explain the aversion many young children have to taking a bath. They know that their parents are trying to immerse them in an industrial waste product without proper care and attention to the possible health consequences.
Dihydrogen monoxide is water.
And yes, it is an industrial by-product - a toxic waste material, if you consider it simplistically.
Indeed, water accounts for many more direct deaths than any other chemical compound.
The World Health Organization ranks it as the third leading cause of death due to unintentional injury, with an estimated 388,000 victims annually.
Drowning - which is the most common form of death from water - is a major problem.
This is not the only problem though. People can also overdose on water. Certainly there is plenty of empirical evidence to suggest if people consume water over long periods of time they will eventually die. Some will even die of cancer or heart disease or any number of other illnesses but everyone who drinks water will eventually die. Of course, not drinking water will kill them quicker.
So, given it is an industrial by-product (just check out the top of the stacks at one of local pulp mills), its toxicity has not been investigated, and it is the direct and known causative agent in about 388,000 deaths per year, you would think that someone would be attempting to ban it. Or, at the very least, get it removed from our drinking water!
It is a pretty silly idea, if you think about it, although that hasn't stopped several cities in the United States from trying to do so. Mostly these motions have been introduced to illustrate the lack of education among the city's government official, but some have made it all the way to a vote.
This whole argument about water is an example of reductio ad absurdum. It is taking a literal interpretation of the issues surrounding water to an extreme to make a point: in order to understand toxicity, one needs to understand toxicology.
"The dose makes the poison" is a short hand version of the principle introduced by the alchemist, Paracelsus.
A more accurate version translating his writing might be: "All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes things not a poison."
It is a pretty profound statement considering that Paracelsus lived almost 500 years ago. It is also the basis of modern toxicology.
In the case of water, too much over a short period of time (hyponotremia) or too little (dehydration), inhalation (drowning) or even long term exposure (life) can all be considered a consequence of not getting the dose right.
Well, probably not our inevitable death, but maybe life could be prolonged by drinking appropriate amounts of water each and every day.
But the notion you should drink eight cups of water per day has no basis in medical fact. It was a number picked out of thin air. The amount of water you should drink is based on a number of factors including age, weight, health, genetics, illnesses, etc.
Equally silly is the notion water doesn't count as water if it is in a cup of coffee or milk or soda pop.
For that matter, water is water even if it comes from a watermelon - which is 94 per cent water.
The point is that the dose matters. All sorts of things that we consume on a daily basis could be a poison - from sassafras tea to lima beans to green potatoes to chocolate. It depends on how much we consume and what our individual tolerances are.
It is this distinction between the mere presence of a compound and the amount required to cause a dose-related response which seems to get lost in the discussion of many of the chemical compounds in our environment.
