4 ms·
The most important tenet of toxicology is that "the dose makes the toxin." In high enough doses, everything is toxic, and in low enough doses, everything is saf
by tynpeddler 8y ago
The most important tenet of toxicology is that "the dose makes the toxin." In high enough doses, everything is toxic, and in low enough doses, everything is safe. Toxic warning labels that are not informed by good dose-response information are worse than useless. They create noise that consumers must wade through in order to discover if a product is truly a risk.
One of the worst examples of chemical paranoia that I've encountered in my career were the MSDS guidelines. The MSDS for water has an exhausting list of dangers and precautions. This made it much more difficult to assess the danger posed by other chemicals because they frequently had the exact same warnings as water. When everything is "dangerous", nothing is.
- JudasGoat 8y agoI didn't see anything scary or FUDlike in the Water MSDS. http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321 http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321
- kencausey 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
- Doxin 8y agoI mean this seems a bit over the top: > Personal Protection: Safety glasses. Lab coat but other than that I don't see anything odd there, although this is amusing too: > pH (1% soln/water): 7
- tynpeddler 8y agoI think my memory inflated things a bit, but I usually check MSDS for personal protection and waste disposal. Both entries for a water are a little vague and overly cautious.