I have GOT to step in on this one.... water IS toxic. The other half works in a tissue bank, making phone calls to the next of kin. She had a recent case where the guy died from 'Psychogenic polydipsia' http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Psychogenic-polydipsia Psychogenic polydipsia is a type of polydypsia with described in patients with mental illnesses and/or the developmentally disabled. It is present in a subset of schizophrenics. These patients, most often chronic schizophrenics with a long history of illness, often exhibit enlarged ventricles and shrunken cortex on MRI, making the physiological mechanism difficult to isolate from the psychogenic. It is a serious disorder and often leads to institutionalization as it can be very difficult to manage outside the inpatient setting. It should be taken very seriously - it can be life threatening as serum sodium is diluted to an extent that seizures and cardiac arrest can occur. Patients have been known to seek fluids from any source possible. To borrow from CBC's Late show .... 'I KNOW!!!' >>> solarwind 27 Jan 09 15:33:36 >>> On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 2:33 PM, Vitaliy wrote: > "Peter" wrote: >> PS2: Wrt toxicity and MSDS - compare the msds sheets of NaCl and FeCl3 :) >> :) >> (hint: salt is to be kept 'locked up' and is 'mutagenic to mammalian >> somatic >> cells' - the other ingredient of the solution is dihydorgen monoxyde, also >> dangerous when ingested in large quantities or inhaled) > > > Allegedly, OSHA regulations mandated one company to post a conspicuous > "POISON" sign on a shed that was full of bags containing a known carcinogen > (silicon dioxide, aka "sand"). > > >From "The Death of Common Sense": > > http://tinyurl.com/247nvd Lol, now that you mentioned it, I read something a long time ago where someone scared a bunch of people by writing an article on the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. Of course - that only works if your audience doesn't know very basic chemistry. -- solarwind -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist