Look out! DHMO!
Boston.com has an AP story reporting that Aliso Viejo, CA almost banned foam cups because they were made with a potentially dangerous substance that could “threaten human health and safety.”
Then they learned, to their chagrin, that dihydrogen monoxide — H2O for short — is the scientific term for water.
“It’s embarrassing,” said City Manager David J. Norman. “We had a paralegal who did bad research.”
March 18th, 2004 at 11:32
Penn and Teller have a series on Showtime, I think it is, called Bullshit! where they debunk myths etc., and generally mock stupid people and one of their episodes featured environmental freaks, and they were pointing out that you can get people to protest anything. They sent a sweet young thing around with a petition to ban adding dihydrogen monoxide to food substances. She was forbidden to lie, but she was allowed to encourage people with the truth by saying, “People have died from ingesting too much dihydrogen monoxide and they’re adding this lethal substance to our food! It was hysterical. Of course they didn’t show anyone who didn’t sign, and I hope at least some of those people knew what it was this woman was trying to ban.