City Scared By Dihydrogen Monoxide Threat
from the brilliant dept
Sometimes life really does imitate the Onion. The Dihydrogen Monoxide research website has been online for many years, and is a well known (and well done!) hoax page describing the risks of the "colorless and odorless chemical compound" dihydrogen monoxide. Without much chemistry training, you should be able to translate dihydrogen monoxide into its chemical representation of H20 - more commonly known as... water. Of course, never underestimate those with too much free time on their hands and access to the internet. It seems that a paralegal working for the city of Aliso Viejo, California became so worried about the risks of this compound, that a law was almost passed through on the basis of that website. The city considered banning styrofoam cups (which have other problems) entirely because the site mentions that "dihydrogen monoxide" is used in the production of those cups. Update: As is pointed out in the comments, it appears the water hoax was not the sole reason for the styrofoam law, but was listed as one of the reasons.
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And the paralegal...No doubt a quota vs. quality employee.
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We used to call it Hyrdogen hyroxide, which would render some people dumb. But never would it trigger legislation...
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