Even a junior high schooler gets the "Fear Factor"

[choicevoice]

A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair on January 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to the 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:

1. cause excessive sweating and vomiting

2. it is a major component in acid rain

3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state

4. accidental inhalation can kill you

5. it contributes to erosion

6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes

7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients

He asked 150 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.

One hundred forty-three said yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was......Water!

The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?"

Well the conclusion is obvious.

[sniffa]

1. off to snopes

[yella_dawg]

3. Good thinking... n/t

[yella_dawg]

2. New Title

"How Ignorant Are We?"

It wouldn't be so bad if this weren't a lame joke that's been lying around for years. "Dihydrogen monoxide"? Please.

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. It actually did happen, but it wasn't recently. 1997

http://www.textbookleague.org/113glob.htm

<snip>

One of the delights of the 2000 version appears in the new opening chapter, "The Nature of Science." On pages 8 through 10, in a section titled "The Habit of Skepticism," we find a long passage based on the DHMO hoax. That hoax, as some of my readers will recall, involved sensational claims about the fearsome hazards associated with dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) -- a substance which is widely used as an industrial solvent, and which appears as an ingredient in many food products, even though it can induce physiological derangements, can produce severe burns (especially when it is in its gaseous form), is found in tumors excised from terminal cancer patients, and is known to cause the deaths of thousands of people every year.

A page of horrifying warnings about DHMO was posted on the Internet several years ago, but DHMO didn't gain national notoriety until 1997, when a 9th-grade student in Idaho Falls, Idaho, invoked it in a science-fair project. The student, Nathan Zohner, worked up a scary handout about DHMO -- complete with the news that DHMO "is the major component in acid rain." Then he distributed copies of the handout to fifty other students, and he asked the students to return their copies to him with written proposals for dealing with DHMO. Forty-three of the fifty wrote that DHMO should be banned because of its lethality. Six students declined to make suggestions because they thought Zohner's handout was strongly biased against DHMO and was unreliable. Only one student recognized that DHMO was water.



A story about Zohner's project was distributed to news media throughout the United States by a wire service, and Zohner's results were widely cited as evidence that the public can be gulled and manipulated easily by purveyors of inflammatory, pseudoscientific propaganda.

<snip>

[hfojvt]

7. and the conclusion we are supposed to reach?

Is that environmentalists are nothing but pseudo-scientific scaremongers and that there is no more need to be worried about BGH or dioxin in your dihydrogen monoxide than there is to be worried about dihydrogen monoxide itself.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. Yep, that's the part that bothers me.

[Harry S Truman]

9. That reminds me...

Two Thanksgivings ago, my dumbass brother-in-law was yacking about how we should use DDT again. I quietly got up from the dinner table, went to the garage, came back with the weedkiller and poured him a tall, frothing glass. "Well...drink it," I said. "It's healthy, right?"
Asshole shut up finally.

[DrWeird]

12. DDT is an insecticide.

nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. Well, maybe Dumbass B-I-L IS an insect!

After all, I've been called an insect. Several times, as a matter of fact. :shrug:

(Dumbass B-I-L is, I assume, not connected in any way with Notorious B-I-G...)

[DrWeird]

11. That scientific literacy is important.

nt

[wtmusic]

4. It's also been shown to be present

in large quantities in the bodies of serial killers and rapists.

At's some dangerous shit! :crazy:

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Here you go.

http://www.fed-soc.org/Publications/practicegroupnewsletters/environmentallaw/el020107.htm

http://www.stats.org/record.jsp?type=news&ID=33

http://bayless.mints.more.net/Miller/fun_stuff/the_science_fair_project.htm

http://www.850koa.com/shows/shows_rosen10.html

http://www.textbookleague.org/113glob.htm


The dates of the article lead one to wonder exactly in which year "last Spring" fell. Best I can tell it happened in Spring of 1997.

[choicevoice]

10. I just posted this as an example of unsubstantiated fear.

I believe fear was a major factor in Bush's campaign. Vote for me or you will die. I guess I should have been clearer in my intent of posting this.

[ThorsHammer]

13. That is hilarious

[Crandor]

15. No such thing

There's no such thing as "dihydrogen monoxide". Since there's only one possible compound of hydrogen and oxygen (excluding peroxide) its name is just "hydrogen oxide".

[DrWeird]

16. There's hydroxide.

and hydronium.