Ralph et al,

You can't sell "chemical-free" food products.  All food products are made up of chemicals, just as all the various living things including humans who consume them to stay alive.

Yes, folks advertise that their chickens have never been given antibiotics and that whatever it is has no GMO's.  "Good Grief" said Charlie Brown (anging his head against the tree to loosen the bark so the tree would grow faster), you cook your chicken in lard, butter, or some other substitue?  And the sweet corn you might enjoy with it was once genetically maize and went through a long process of selective breeding by humans to be the delicious treat it is today. How does a horse today win the triple crown?

So somebody had the brains to develop a modified plant that is drought or insect resistant so people don't die of hunger?  Starvation is a lousy way to die.

But, as you imply, no matter what advanced school you went to or what degrees you hold, you can't cure stupid. We once made an attempt with the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commision) to have adequate warnings on products.  We came to the conclusion that if you put everything on there, nothing could be dispensed in less than 55 gallon drums.  They wouldn't touch the issue of artifical nail removers which contained cyanogenic acetonitrile instead of relatively less toxic nail polish removers containing acetone becuase the first product was only to be sold to licensed cosemeticians in non-child-resistant containers.  It took a few deaths of innocent children for this practice to change.

Alan

Alan H. Hall, M.D.

On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 7:50 AM, Stuart, Ralph <Ralph.Stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu> wrote:

> >Yes, the willful wee ones should not be allowed to consume the slime, but adults who have eaten caviar from Russia or Iran have already consumed borax (containing elemental boron), and appear to enjoy it in ever increasing quantities.
>
One of my dreams is that discussion of consumer chemical issues such as these can help the public stop equating the name of the chemical with its risk level. It's a forlorn hope, given the advertising industry's need to sell chemical-free products, but my hope persists... ;)

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859

ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu

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