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Antifreeze nonsense Aussie red wines Max Hauser Diethylene glycol can be used as an anti-freeze, like a number of other water-soluble chemicals Thanks for the correction. I've got a Ph.D. in chemistry, and do understand the difference between monoethylene glycol, diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol (Ethane-1,2-diol, 3-Oxypentane-1,5-diol, 3,6-Dioxa-1,8-octanediol)though it is a lot easier if you see the structural formulas HO-CH2CH2-OH, HO-CH2CH2-O-CH2CH2-OH, HO-CH2CH2-O-CH2CH2-O-CH2CH2-OH This advantage won't have been shared by the British reporters who wrote the articles (in the Guardian and the Observer) where I originally heard about the scandal, and I'm not surprised that I wasn't exposed to this information at the time. It may seem odd that British science journalists don't have to have had any kind of science education to qualify them for the job, but it is part of the same delusion that lets the British establishment see themselves as omnicompetent superior people, rather than slap-dash amateurs. The most intelligent British manager I ever worked for still managed to make the occasional idiotic decision because he didn't have the time to work through the detailed reasoning that had led us to specific recommendaions about (crucial) matters of detail that didn't fit his (necessarily) over-simplified global model, and was arrogant enough to over-ride our recommendations. ------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
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