New Zealand's Green Party

October 25, 2001 12:56 PM

New Zealand's Green Party agrees to work to ban Dihydrogen Monoxide. (Via Fredrik K.R. Norman)
posted by Steven Den Beste (15 comments total)

Well, actually what they said was they would probably support a ban on the substance. I'm sure they know better by now.
posted by starvingartist at 1:00 PM on October 25, 2001

Those stupid Greens! When will they learn...water isn't BAD for you.

This is such a silly story.
posted by Doug at 1:01 PM on October 25, 2001

Well, the story sure is short on detail. Was it their receptionist who said they'd probably be supportive of a ban? Their director? But if it was someone who actually makes such decisions, then it is a genuinely embarassing and revealing episode.
posted by mw at 1:15 PM on October 25, 2001

"National's Nick Smith says the incident shows just how scientifically illiterate the Greens are."

I think this just shows how logically illiterate Nick Smith is... can't draw any conclusions from sample size = 1.
posted by muppetboy at 1:27 PM on October 25, 2001

water isn't BAD for you
Tell that to the drowning victims....
posted by dwivian at 1:27 PM on October 25, 2001

I confess to total ignorance about DHMO. In an effort to educate myself, I checked out the link provided (www.dhmo.org)

According to this obviously unbiased source, DHMO is responsible for pretty much everything except the JFK assassination and 9-11. Besides the usual cancer and environmental contamination issues, DHMO is fully or partially responsible for, or played some part in:

- killer cyclones
- El Nino
- Nazi death camps
- school violence
- KKK (and NAACP?) rallies
- Scientology rituals
- ethnic cleansing
- gay bath houses
- abortion clinics

My god! Get rid of it! Ban it!

But then I read:

moderate intake of DHMO prior to engaging in sexual activity may enhance performance

Well! Every cloud DOES has a silver lining. Makes these greenies look like a bunch of paranoid party poopers.
posted by groundhog at 2:12 PM on October 25, 2001

Yawn, read this on Fark already. Can we please consider Fark posts to be double-posts when they appear here?
posted by fleener at 2:15 PM on October 25, 2001

I've noticed that everything posted here has been posted somewhere else. They all seem like double-posts.
posted by marknau at 2:30 PM on October 25, 2001

Almost as bad and scientifically-challenged as the Repugnicans and their endless mantras: "there's no such process as global warming, no danger from radiation, no danger from known carcinogens, ommmmmm."

Of course, Repugs are the party of the rich...and curbing pollution eats into profits....so why wouldn't they deny that global warming exists, right? It's not like we expect honesty and a respect for science from our elected leaders (especially those in bed with the polluters) is it?
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 2:42 PM on October 25, 2001

f_a_m: shaky research doesn't prove anything -- as a 3rd party (no, not green) kinda person, I find the bad science of the "humans are causing global warming" crowd just as foolhardy as the "there is no global warming at all" crowd.

The "Repugs" and the "D-rats" are both being simple-minded.

And, without radiation, it'd be pretty damn dark around here.

As to "known" carcinogens -- cancer is so incompletely understood (thus the millions spent on research) that the concept of a carcinogen is difficult to accept. Things commonly called carcinogenic are often labelled based on experiments that in no way mimic real life. I have yet to drink 50,000 diet colas a day, and I really don't see that the occasional change of a toner cartridge is going to put me at risk.

However, excessive DHMO inhallation is a known killer. Let's keep some perspective.
posted by dwivian at 2:48 PM on October 25, 2001

I really like the pro-DHMO site "Dihydrogen Monoxide: Your All-Natural Friend" Hee hee.
posted by rschram at 3:41 PM on October 25, 2001

Dude - I so drink 50,000 diet colas a day.

Is that supposed to be bad or something?
posted by willnot at 3:52 PM on October 25, 2001

willnot, you are *so* dead. I'd drink 50,000 glasses of DHMO before I'd ever touch a diet cola. ;)
posted by darukaru at 4:46 PM on October 25, 2001

I have yet to drink 50,000 diet colas a day

All right, I have a new goal...
posted by dagnyscott at 6:40 PM on October 25, 2001

50 000 diet colas?

I'm thinking of a NaNoWriMo tie-in - a diet cola for every word you type. An extra challenge, since it's hard to type when stuck sitting on the toilet...
posted by eoz at 2:14 AM on October 26, 2001