The Dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide

Dihydrogen Monoxide (also referred to as DHMO) is a colorless, orderless, tasteless chemical compound. You might have never heard of Dihydrogen Monoxide, but that is because it is referred to as other names such as Hydric Acid, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or Dihydrogen Oxide. According to www.nationalgeographic.com DHMO has been around since the beginning of the earth. Although it has been around for a very long time, nothing is being done to warn the public of the dangers of it.

DHMO is not something we should joke about though. It is a serious chemical and it is responsible for countless deaths each year. According to the CDC, from 2005 to 2014 there has been an average of 3,536 fatal unintentional inhalations of dihydrogen moxonidine each year. About one in five people who unintentionally inhale DHMO are under the age of 14. The dangers of DHMO do not just end there. DHMO in a vaporous form can cause severe burns to the human body. According to www.natlawreview.com, “Approximately 50,000 of these burn victims require hospitalization and 20,000 suffer major burns covering 25% of their body surface.” DHMO has also been linked to the rusting of certain types of metals. 

So, should we just ban Dihydrogen Monoxide? The problem is DHMO is widely used in today’s society, and if we were to outright ban it there would cause some major problems. DHMO is a critical component of the United States energy system. It is one of the main components of nuclear power plants, and if we banned it, we probably would not be able to have nuclear power. According to www.eia.gov,  “The United States nuclear reactors produced 809 billion kWh in 2019, about 20% of total electrical output.” If we banned DHMO then our whole energy system would be in trouble. 

DHMO is also used in various other things in the world. The US Navy has also been found to use DHMO for propulsion of some of their vessels. It is even a by-product of air conditioners. According to nsidc.org vast quantities of DHMO’s solid-state have been discovered in the bottom part of the Southern Hemisphere. DHMO is dangerous, but it would be extremely hard to ban.

Oh, Another name for Dihydrogen Monoxide is “water” (Dihydrogen Monoxide: Two Hydrogen, One Oxygen or H2O).  Yes, this article was about water. Let me start and say everything I said above is 100% real and factual information, but I will say it is extremely misleading. This would be considered “Zohnerism.” Zohnerism was a term coined by journalist James K. Glassman and it means, “the use of a true fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion.” My whole point of this article is to show you that even with sources and citations an article can still bend the truth to try to push its own agenda. When researching anything make sure to do your own research and check your facts. Do not take every piece of information at face value.