100 Chemical Myths: Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, Explanations

CHAPTER 1. Misconceptions in general.- 1.1. Fear of the Unknown: Chemicals.- 1.2. Life as a Risky Business.- 1.3. Natural Products: a Delusion of Safety.- 1.4. Man-Made Commodities and Safety Issues.- 1.5. The Cholera Pandemonium: the Blind Leading the Blind.- 1.6. Regulating Chemicals: Maybe or Maybe Not.- 1.7. Biowaste: Biotechnology in Perspective.- 1.8. Ice Skating and the Science of Sliding.- 1.9. So What's Happening to the Ozone Hole?.- 1.10. Predicting the Elements: Success and Failure.- 1.11. Vedic Wisdom: Lead and Ayurveda.- 1.12. Manipulating Weather: Ocean Fertilization.- CHAPTER 2 - Food.- 2.1. Test Your Cranberry Pie: Vitamin C and Benzoates.- 2.2. Food Dyes: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.- 2.3. The Organic Vegetable Hype.- 2.4. "You're the One for Me, Fatty": Concocted Fats.- 2.5. Fat Matters: Margarine vs. Butter.- 2.6. Fake Food and Kidney Stones.- 2.7. The Coming Shortage: Vanilla and Menthol.- 2.8. Red Alert: Meat Colors.- 2.9. Moldy Business: Whole-Grain Cereals.- 2.10. Red Wine and the Vineyard Blues.- 2.11. Popeye's Spinach and the Search for Iron.- 2.12. The Perplexing Spice: Curry.- 2.13. Bigger the Better? The Alpha and Omega of Fatty Acids.- 2.14. Sweet as Birch: Xylitol.- 2.15. Bittersweet Effects: Grapefruit Seeds.- 2.16. Sweet Dreams without Sugar: Artificial Sweeteners.- 2.17. An Ointment for your Throat: The Secrets of Olive Oil.- 2.18. To Add or Not to Add? Food Additives.- 2.19. There's Salt, and then There's Salt.- 2.20. Sugar for Your Tea? White or Brown?.- 2.21. The Thickening Stuff: Guar Gum Gumbo.- 2.22. Is Caffeine Free of Risk?.- 2.23. The Biofuel Dilemma.- 2.24. Perfect Timing: Egg Cooking.- 2.25. Food Fraud: Then and Now.- CHAPTER 3 - Medicines.- 3.1. Are Generic Medicines the Same as the Original?.- 3.2. The Vitamin that Never was: B 17 .- 3.3. Joint Efforts: Glucosamine and Chondroitin.- 3.4. A Man's Drug of Choice: Testosterone.- 3.5. Doped Up and Ready to Win. Maybe.- 3.6. Can Placebos Heal?.- 3.7. Synthetic Drugs vs. Natural Herbs.- 3.8. Bitter, Stronger: Herbal Tea Sweeteners.- 3.9. Homeopathy: No Active Ingredient? No Side Effect?.- 3.10. Aromatherapy: Nice but Useless?.- 3.11. Innocent or Guilty? Chamomile.- 3.12. Depressed: Antidepressant Side Effects.- 3.13. Pre-Emptive Action: Vitamin C.- 3.14. Vitamin Megadosing: the Real Truth.- 3.15. Detox Hoax: Poison Removal from Your Body.- 3.16. Cloudy Dreams in Green: Absinthe.- 3.17. Is Green Tea Caffeine-Free?.- 3.18. Red Rice Remedy: Cholesterol Relief?.- 3.19. What Exactly Does Aloë Cure?.- 3.20. Island Pleasure for Businessmen: Noni.- 3.21. Castor Oil: a Painful Story.- 3.22. The Oldest Sugar-Free Candy: Licorice.- 3.23. Cannon Balls for Your Health: Antibiotics.- 3.24. Hearty Soybeans: Phytoestrogens.- 3.25. Willow Fever: Aspirin.- 3.26. Pill Secrets: the Efficiency of Drugs.- 3.27. In Quest of Active Ingredients: Herbs.- 3.28. Getting Rid of Acids: Alkaline Cures.- 3.29. "...upon the Face of the Waters": Mineral and Tap Water.- 3.30. The Illusive Qualities of Plant Preparations.- 3.31. The Antioxidant Story.- 3.32. Stomach Ache: Baking Soda.- 3.33. Does Hot Pepper Cause Ulcer?.- 3.34. Cocaine - Drug, Narcotic, or What?.- CHAPTER 4 - Catastrophes, Poisons, Chemicals.- 4.1. Is the Use of Cyanogen Bromide Forbidden in Hospitals?.- 4.2. Poison in Groundwater: Arsenic.- 4.3. Don't Touch the Spilled Mercury!.- 4.4. Was DDT of More Harm Than Use?.- 4.5. Could Dioxin be the Most Toxic Substance?.- 4.6. Was Napoleon Murdered with Arsenic?.- 4.7. The Resin Wars: Formaldehyde.- 4.8. The Great Hungarian Red Mud Deluge.- 4.9. Death in a Single Grain.- 4.10. A Closer Look at Acids.- 4.11. O, the Fresh Smell of Ozone.- 4.12. The Diamond Thermometer.- 4.13. Everlasting Love: Diamonds.- 4.14. Is pH 5.5 Neutral?.- 4.15. Sorrel Soup Scare: Oxalic Acid.- 4.16. The Mysteries of Magnetism.- 4.17. Water: the Extravagant Liquid.- 4.18. Fire in Space.- 4.19. Is Natural Gas Toxic?.- 4.20. Respiratory Affairs: Carbon Dioxide.- 4.21. The True Death T