> If I said I'll pay $1,000,000 to anyone who drinks a shot of bleach, certainly it's well within anyone's rights to drink bleach. I don't necessarily disagree

> If I said I'll pay $1,000,000 to anyone who drinks a shot of bleach, certainly it's well within anyone's rights to drink bleach. I don't necessarily disagree with your point that it's sometimes necessary to protect people from themselves, and particularly that it's important to consider what incentives you're creating. But it is funny that you should choose "drinking a shot of bleach" as your example of "something which is almost certainly going to kill or maim a person". The LD50 for 5% sodium hypochlorite (i.e. bleach) is 6600 mg / kg in mice and 4090 mg / kg in rats[1]. I don't think anyone has established an exact LD50 value in humans (I sure hope nobody has done that), but per [2] > Accidental human data are reported for ingestion and parenteral route: it can be concluded that the effects of accidental ingestion of domestic sodium hypochlorite bleaches are not expected to lead to severe or permanent damage of the gastrointestinal tract as recovery is rapid and without any permanent health consequences. Guidance from the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center[3] has the following to say: > What is important is to NOT force vomiting to try and rid your body of the chemical. This is definitely more harmful than helpful. Your stomach can handle the small amount of swallowed bleach. We run into problems when people try to force vomiting, because they put themselves at risk for aspiration. Aspiration is the inhalation of either secretions from the back of the throat and nasal cavity or stomach contents into the lower airways of the lungs. This can potentially lead to an acute, chemical lung injury resulting from the inhalation of the contents. > Obviously if someone is trying to intentionally harm themselves, and drinks more than a mouthful, then an immediate evaluation by an ER physician is needed. Large amounts of swallowed bleach can produce more significant, potentially life-threatening problems. So ingesting a large amount of bleach is dangerous, but taking a shot of standard household 5% bleach is actually pretty unlikely to cause permanent damage (though I would still not particularly recommend it in the absence of someone offering you a million bucks). ---------- [1] https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/91020.htm https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/91020.htm [2] https://echa.europa.eu/registration-dossier/-/registered-dossier/15516/7/3/1 https://echa.europa.eu/registration-dossier/-/registered-dos... [2] https://azpoison.com/sites/default/files/poisonology_bleach.pdf https://azpoison.com/sites/default/files/poisonology_bleach....