/oss/taxonomy/term/241/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-history/first-consumer-activist <p>So you are worried about aspartame or a little Red #3 in your food? You know what you would have to worry about back in the early years of the 19<sup>th</sup> century? A little strychnine in the beer.  A touch of mercuric sulfide in the candy.  A sprinkling of red lead in the cayenne pepper!   </p> Wed, 26 Jul 2023 14:17:31 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9575 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience/evil-eye <p>I must admit I’m not sure if the woman is just an intellectual simpleton or a clever charlatan preying on the gullible.  I suspect the former.  In any case, here is the story.  Upon invitation, and for a fee, this peculiar character travels from the Middle East to North America to rid people of the effects of the Evil Eye.  Evil what, you ask?  As featured in many cultures, the Evil Eye is a look directed at some unfortunate person, resulting in bad luck or outright harm.  The perpetrator is usually believed to possess some sort of supernatural power, although in some cultures an envious pe</p> Fri, 04 Feb 2022 21:47:02 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9017 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/concerns-about-cookware-chemistry <p>Like most chemists, I like to cook.  After all, what is cooking but the appropriate mixing of chemicals?  In the lab we use flasks and beakers, but how do we equip our kitchen?  Tiffany's in New York offers a silver frying pan for thousands of dollars, specialty stores sell gleaming copper pots for a couple of hundred while a thin aluminum pot can be had almost anywhere for a few bucks.  What's the difference? </p> Fri, 21 Jan 2022 19:45:13 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9001 at /oss /oss/article/health-videos/right-chemistry-leaded-coffee <p></p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-1"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-yfoq-nmcz-g" width="640" height="390" title="Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the use of the term “leaded coffee" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/yfoq_NMCz_g?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-yfoq-nmcz-g&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name="Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the use of the term “leaded coffee" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">Video of Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the use of the term “leaded coffee</iframe> </div> Thu, 04 Mar 2021 17:22:39 +0000 OSS 8638 at /oss /oss/article/health-general-science/biting-dental-fillings <p>The common word in French for dental fillings is “plombage”, which may sound a little surprising since it roughly translates to “to fill with lead”. That is because if you had a cavity in France in the 18th century, a dentist would have filled it with that metal. Lead melts easily and the molten lead was poured into the cavity. Hopefully, the dentist had steady hands! Luckily, given that lead is highly toxic, dental fillings today do not contain it.  </p> Fri, 24 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0000 Caitlin Bard, OSS Intern 8335 at /oss /oss/article/lead-bullets-can-harm-more-ways-one <p>It’s probably not news to anyone reading this that lead exposure is dangerous, but when most of us think of routes to lead exposure we think of leaded gasoline, paints, drinking water or pencils (although <a href="/oss/article/technology/under-microscope-graphite">pencils do not, and never did, actually contain lead</a>). But there is another means of exposure that’s causing significant issues for certain populations: lead bullets.</p> Fri, 10 May 2019 19:50:14 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7754 at /oss /oss/article/technology/under-microscope-graphite <p>Pencils do not contain any lead, and they never did! The mistake in terminology can be traced back to the ancient Romans who drew lines on papyrus using pieces of actual lead, all the while not realizing it was incredibly toxic. Considering its toxicity, it’s really good that pencils never did contain lead. Could you imagine how much a child could ingest while chewing on their pencil?<br /></p> Mon, 08 Apr 2019 16:15:44 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7700 at /oss /oss/article/it-dangerous-store-alcoholic-beverages-decanters-made-lead-crystal <p>Glass is made by heating sand and then allowing it to cool down. Sand, or silicon dioxide, has a highly ordered arrangement of its silicon and oxygen atoms. In other words, it has a well-defined crystal structure. When sand is liquified by heat and then cooled, this ordered arrangement of atoms is lost, resulting in a more random pattern characteristic of a glass.</p> Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7631 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-health-news-toxicity/tarnished-gold-rush <p>It’s hard for us here in North America to believe that gold is killing hundreds of children in Nigeria. Well, it isn’t exactly the gold that is killing them, it is the lead oxide and lead carbonate in the dust that is stirred up in the search for tiny gold nuggets. There is no modern machinery here, the miners work with shovels and hammers. They bring rocks home and pound them into dust in the quest for bits of gold that may allow for an improved life. The lead-laden dust settles on everything, including clothing and food. Water becomes contaminated as it is used to rinse away the dust.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:44:48 +0000 Alexandra Pires-Ménard, OSS Intern 2030 at /oss /oss/article/food-health-news-toxicity/lead-stain-chocolate <p>Lead is nasty. Since the body has a tough time eliminating it, exposure to very small amounts can cause poisoning over the long term. Diagnosis of lead poisoning is challenging because of the variety of symptoms it can produce. Vomiting, constipation, abdominal pains, headaches, mood disorders, high blood pressure, tingling sensations and fatigue can all be the result of lead poisoning, but of course these symptoms can also have other causes. Then there are the truly worrisome issues like developmental problems, learning difficulties and eventual loss of mental faculties.</p> Sat, 14 Feb 2015 13:53:38 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2236 at /oss /oss/article/environment-science-science-everywhere-you-asked/why-has-california-issued-health-advisory-about-eating-fried-grasshoppers-covered-chili-traditional <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=4326"><img alt="" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/03/chili-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Worry about contamination with lead! Chili powder is at the heart of Mexican cuisine and finds its way into numerous foods ranging from candies and salsa to fried grasshoppers. Unfortunately sometimes lead finds its way into the chili powder, occasionally in amounts high enough to cause toxicity, especially in children. This was discovered when routine testing of foods in California revealed high levels of lead in candies sold in Hispanic neighbourhoods. These spicy candies, imported from Mexico, were made with guajillo chilies, but the source of lead was a mystery. An investigation was in order because in some cases the lead content was way more than the permissible level of 0.2 parts per million. Lead is an insidious poison, with even small amounts capable of causing kidney damage, behavioral problems and learning disabilities. Children are especially sensitive because lead accumulates in their still-developing skeletal and nervous systems. The problem of lead toxicity eased with the banning of lead-based household paints in 1978 and leaded gasoline in 1986, but other environmental sources of lead remain, such as the unusual case of chili peppers. Where was the lead coming from? <a href="/oss/why-has-california-issued-a-health-advisory-about-eating-fried-grasshoppers-covered-with-chili-a-traditional-mexican-treat/">Read more</a></p> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:49:43 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1884 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/there-lead-my-lipstick <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=4872"><img alt="Red lipstick" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/04/Lipstick-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Had a question about lead in lipstick. You won't see lead listed on the label but doesn’t mean that there is no lead in the product. Certainly there is no lead added on purpose, but the presence of trace amounts is very difficult to avoid. That’s because lead compounds are widely present in minerals and ores from which a number of chemicals used as ingredients in cosmetics are produced. Certain colorants used in lipstick do contain tiny amounts of lead because it is virtually impossible to eliminate all contaminants. Amounts, however, are carefully regulated. In the U.S., all colorants used in cosmetics, unlike other ingredients, require FDA approval and cannot contain lead over a certain amount. For example, in the case of FD&C Red #6, commonly used in cosmetics, lead content cannot exceed 20 parts per million. The final cosmetic product of course will have a much lower level. In Canada, we follow the FDA’s lead.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/04/15/is-there-lead-in-my-lipstick/">Read more</a></p> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:59:54 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1911 at /oss /oss/article/health-toxicity-you-asked/should-we-be-concerned-about-lead-drinking-water <p>The Romans had a sweet tooth, but didn’t know about sugar. So they boiled down grape juice to make a sweet syrup called “sapa” which they added to wine, as well as to various foods. The acidic juices were boiled in lead vessels because experience had shown that this enhanced the sweetness of the product. Of course, the chemical nuances of the procedure were unknown to the Romans, but we now understand that acids can readily leach lead from containers. Indeed, lead acetate is sometimes referred to as “sugar of lead.”</p> Wed, 07 Nov 2012 03:41:59 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1773 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/pencils-never-contained-lead <p>This may come as a shock to some people but lead pencils do not contain any lead.  Never did.</p> Thu, 23 Feb 2017 03:20:30 +0000 joe Schwarcz PhD 1523 at /oss