Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [toxicology]

The study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms.

60 questions
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Is bamboo charcoal safely edible?

Bamboo charcoal is made up of pieces of bamboo, which are taken from plants five years or older and burned inside an oven at temperatures over 1000°C. Bamboo charcoal is well known about its high porosity, which makes bamboo charcoal has excellent…
Popopo
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Could cutting one's self on a broken CFL bulb cause severe injury?

Related: How dangerous is a broken compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)? Actually someone asked this exact thing on that question, but it wasn't addressed, perhaps because they provided no link/further details. My wife just sent me a bulletin concerning…
Hendy
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Is the smoke from one mosquito coil equal to that of 100 cigarettes?

This article makes the following assertion. Smoke emitted from one mosquito repellant coil is equivalent to those of 100 cigarettes, thus causing harm to a large number of people in India... Is there any truth in the claims made by the above…
Vinoth Kumar C M
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Are dioxins the most toxic chemicals known to science?

Dioxins are implicated in The Seveso disaster in Italy and the lingering disputes about deformities and birth defects caused by the use of the Agent Orange defoliant in the Vietnam war (Wikipedia summary). They are often described as the most toxic…
matt_black
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Does anyone know what cyanide tastes like?

There is a story about a scientist who wanted to know what Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN, Prussic Acid) tasted like, but couldn't because he died before he could write it out. But it requires at least 25-30 seconds even in large doses, according to most…
Anirudh Ramanathan
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Are synthetically produced chemicals not found in nature more likely to be harmful than naturally occurring ones?

Since everything is made from chemicals the often made claim that we should avoid food that doesn't contain chemicals doesn't make any sense. But the underlying idea that synthetic chemicals are somehow particularly dangerous seems to persist and is…
matt_black
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Are fungal toxins prevalent in brewed coffee?

A question on Cooking SE brought up the fact that: One study showed that 91.7% of green coffee beans were contaminated with mold. This is before they were processed, which allows even more mold to grow. Another study showed 52% of green coffee…
Chad
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Was there a pattern of women in Middle Ages Europe poisoning their husbands to keep them close?

There's a claim doing the rounds on social media, that women in the Middle Ages would poison their husbands, and then administer an antidote on their arrival home. The implication is that this would "keep the men close" as the longer they stayed…
Jerome Viveiros
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Are polyfluorinated chemicals linked to men's penises being smaller?

A recent story in Huffpost raises the spectre that cooking in non-stick pans could be harming male fertility, not least by making penises smaller: Chemicals used to make non-stick pans have been linked to men having smaller penises. Yes, you read…
matt_black
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Are chicken haunches especially toxic?

There have been some health concerns raised (mainly through word of mouth) with regards to the toxicity of chicken haunches. Apparently, in the industrial breeding and rearing of chickens many harmful chemicals, excessive antibiotics and growth…
Huey
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Do reusable plastic water bottles leach dangerous chemicals?

Possible Duplicate: Is refilling water bottles bad for you? Several articles claim that the 'chemical leaching' from reusable clear plastic water bottles leads to toxins in the water, not even just when left in the sun. West Virginia…
Christopher
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Do the seeds from 20 apples contain a fatal dose of cyanide?

This Healthline article claims: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1-2 mg/kg is a fatal oral dose of cyanide for a 154 lbs. (70 kg) man. You would need to finely chew and eat about 200 apple seeds, or about 20 apple cores,…
SleepingGod
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Is drinking water stored in copper vessels (copperware) good for your health?

It's a wide spread belief in India (Ayurveda) that drinking water stored in copper ware (like copper jugs and pots) is better for health. There's even a website about it: Dr. Copper's "Scientifically & Ayurveda Recommendations" Sanskriti Magazine in…
Dudey
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Can bee stings be treated with onions?

Someone told me that when you have a bee sting you should cut an onion in half and apply it to the sting for 30min - or even better make onion puree and apply it. This sounds a bit like folk-medicine (not saying that this means it's not true). Is…
ChrisWue
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Are baby snakes as venomous as adult ones?

I'm in a locality where I can find snakes walking around with ease. Its probable that I will also find the snake's baby (sized 4-5 inches). Whenever we encounter any such child some people at locality say "Don't touch it with hand, it can be as…
Santosh Kumar
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