Soft Drinks Found to Have High Levels of Cancer Chemical

[Miranda&James 8]

#######?? if that was true, 75% of the high school girls i knew be dead

It's true, I swear

http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/cervical_cancer.html

Scroll on down to the possibly causes.

[faith 0]

*gives dean an orange soda*

thanks sister faith..i adding guinness to it..brillant

hmmm.... i'll have to have the hubby try that combo... he loves orange soda and also guinness... you can't go wrong there!

wonder if he smokes a ciggy while drinking it his chances of getting cancer will go up exponentially?

[MichelleandCraig 1]

I'm only at the end of page 1, but I have to go get a Coke before I finish reading..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[almaty 19]

*gives dean an orange soda*

thanks sister faith..i adding guinness to it..brillant

hmmm.... i'll have to have the hubby try that combo... he loves orange soda and also guinness... you can't go wrong there!

wonder if he smokes a ciggy while drinking it his chances of getting cancer will go up exponentially?

as you say faith..everything..including the metro-east air gives us cancer

[faith 0]

*gives dean an orange soda*

thanks sister faith..i adding guinness to it..brillant

hmmm.... i'll have to have the hubby try that combo... he loves orange soda and also guinness... you can't go wrong there!

wonder if he smokes a ciggy while drinking it his chances of getting cancer will go up exponentially?

as you say faith..everything..including the metro-east air gives us cancer

yep.. ever driven thru sauget? can feel the cancer brewing just looking out the window there

[ChristinaM 0]

LMAO

Look, I'm a nerd, I like science ok?! I'll really turn you all on and tell you about delocalised electrons and Pi-bonding through the C-C=C ring, if you care that much.....

And "chemistry" can be pretty good fun too

Sound interesting. What do you think about benzene?

I don't know about "delocalised electrons", but I know about localised neocons, and they're pretty bad too. Can you make them disappear, chemically speaking?

Localised neocons are beyond the scope of my science to dispose of

What do I think of benzene? As an aromatic hydrocarbon, benzene does a lot of very cool things and is very useful in it's own right. For example, TNT (trinitro-toluene, blow stuff up with it...) is a benzene derivative. From a purely chemical standpoint, it's a great substance. However, it is a side product of certain reactions, and because of its pi-bonded structure it's prone to electrophilic attack which can release free radicals which are also not good.

I think Sodium Benzoate as a preservative should be replaced with something more "user-friendly". It is also used as a corrosion inhibitor in automotive anti-freeze products, which tells me it's not something you want in your drinks! It looks like this:

(Yes, I'm THAT sad )

[almaty 19]

*gives dean an orange soda*

thanks sister faith..i adding guinness to it..brillant

hmmm.... i'll have to have the hubby try that combo... he loves orange soda and also guinness... you can't go wrong there!

wonder if he smokes a ciggy while drinking it his chances of getting cancer will go up exponentially?

as you say faith..everything..including the metro-east air gives us cancer

yep.. ever driven thru sauget? can feel the cancer brewing just looking out the window there

yeap...i know that place well anyway..the air there./.granite city is just makes you gag..and around the refineries ..terrible faith..

[faith 0]

*gives dean an orange soda*

thanks sister faith..i adding guinness to it..brillant

hmmm.... i'll have to have the hubby try that combo... he loves orange soda and also guinness... you can't go wrong there!

wonder if he smokes a ciggy while drinking it his chances of getting cancer will go up exponentially?

as you say faith..everything..including the metro-east air gives us cancer

yep.. ever driven thru sauget? can feel the cancer brewing just looking out the window there

yeap...i know that place well anyway..the air there./.granite city is just makes you gag..and around the refineries ..terrible faith..

eww i know about the refineries up there.. YUCK. Luckily the air over here in belleville isn't too horrible smelling.. but then again, we all know that just because it smells ok doesn't mean it's safe

[Satisfaction 1]

LMAO

Look, I'm a nerd, I like science ok?! I'll really turn you all on and tell you about delocalised electrons and Pi-bonding through the C-C=C ring, if you care that much.....

And "chemistry" can be pretty good fun too

Sound interesting. What do you think about benzene?

I don't know about "delocalised electrons", but I know about localised neocons, and they're pretty bad too. Can you make them disappear, chemically speaking?

Localised neocons are beyond the scope of my science to dispose of

What do I think of benzene? As an aromatic hydrocarbon, benzene does a lot of very cool things and is very useful in it's own right. For example, TNT (trinitro-toluene, blow stuff up with it...) is a benzene derivative. From a purely chemical standpoint, it's a great substance. However, it is a side product of certain reactions, and because of its pi-bonded structure it's prone to electrophilic attack which can release free radicals which are also not good.

I think Sodium Benzoate as a preservative should be replaced with something more "user-friendly". It is also used as a corrosion inhibitor in automotive anti-freeze products, which tells me it's not something you want in your drinks! It looks like this:

(Yes, I'm THAT sad )

What does "electrophilic attack" and "release free radicals" means? Is Sodium Benzoate and Benzene the same stuff? (sorry, I'm an idiot)

WOW. I'm so glad that there are scientists on VJ!

[almaty 19]

*gives dean an orange soda*

thanks sister faith..i adding guinness to it..brillant

hmmm.... i'll have to have the hubby try that combo... he loves orange soda and also guinness... you can't go wrong there!

wonder if he smokes a ciggy while drinking it his chances of getting cancer will go up exponentially?

as you say faith..everything..including the metro-east air gives us cancer

yep.. ever driven thru sauget? can feel the cancer brewing just looking out the window there

yeap...i know that place well anyway..the air there./.granite city is just makes you gag..and around the refineries ..terrible faith..

eww i know about the refineries up there.. YUCK. Luckily the air over here in belleville isn't too horrible smelling.. but then again, we all know that just because it smells ok doesn't mean it's safe

i agree..i guess that is why the cars/trucks are tested for pollution..the air is bad...i know granite city..had toe wqorse air caiuse of the steel plants and being acrossed from stlouis river factories...belleville, not so bad i think

[faith 0]

i agree..i guess that is why the cars/trucks are tested for pollution..the air is bad...i know granite city..had toe wqorse air caiuse of the steel plants and being acrossed from stlouis river factories...belleville, not so bad i think

yeah, we're all considered high risk, so we need the pollution testing done. That reminds me both my car and truck are up for testing

[ChristinaM 0]

What does "electrophilic attack" and "release free radicals" means? Is Sodium Benzoate and Benzene the same stuff?

You're not an idiot, Satisfaction!

"Electrophilic attack" is what happens when something without electrons tries to takes them from something else. Think of it like a highwayman, trygin to take money from carriages passing by because he knows they countain wealthy people! Benzene is very electron-rich; it's like the people in the carriage. Something like Chlorine is mad for electrons; it's like our robber after money. So a chlorine atom which happens to be in the area will say "OK, I need an electron, you have one, I'm going to steal it!". That's an electrophilic attack.

Free radicals are things which do bad things to the ozone layer. That's about as much as you need to know about them, ever! But here's an article if you're insane enough to care....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_radicals

It's not very user-friendly, but free radicals are fairly deep into chemistry and you really don't want to know the background!

Sodium Benzoate is made up from Benzene, Oxygen and Sodium. They use it in soft drinks to suppress bacteria activity. Sodium is pretty reactive though, and what the scientist was saying was that Sodium Benzoate can break down and recombine as other things during the making of a soft drink so that the Benzene part is not tied up with something else. Think of it like some building blocks; you can combine them in different ways to get different things.

Benzene itself is just made of Hydrogen and Carbon. It's a byproduct of fuel refining because it's a part of crude oil. It's called an "aromatic" hydrocarbon because of it's shape - instead of being a long chain, it's a ring of Carbon pieces (atoms) joined together in a circle with one Hygrogen atoms attached to each Carbon. The little picture up the top of this page is pretty good, and in the picture further down, the hexagon represents that same thing but with some Hydrogens knocked off and some Sodium and Oxygen instead.

Edited March 13, 2006 by clmarsh

[kc456 0]

Just don't drink it! You will save yourself some money and some extra pounds if you just stop drinking soda.

[Marilyn. 340]

... I don't drink a lot of soda but sometimes you just need a nice cup of cold coke and or pepsi

it goes good with burger and fries too

[isleta521 5]

... I don't drink a lot of soda but sometimes you just need a nice cup of cold coke and or pepsi

it goes good with burger and fries too

Burgur and fries . . .?

Cancer, Cancer, Cancer