On zaterdag, jul 26, 2003, at 17:19 Europe/Amsterdam, Allan Fish wrote:
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Heck, to an adult it tastes like Kool-Aid. I don't know how many on the
list have had an accidental taste of anti-freeze, but its darned good stuff.
Its hard to believe though that the manufacturers can't put some kind of
additive in it to make it smell bad or taste bad. From my brief experience,
I can completely understand why pets drink the stuff.
John Roth
Baltimore, MD
John,
You're lucky if you actually drank some and are here to tell us about it.
Anti-freeze (ethylene glycol) is rapidly converted to oxalic acid in the body. Oxalic acid is a very deadly poison if ingested.
Mmm, not sure 'bout the very deadly regarding oxalic acid -- several common food items contain fair to high amounts of it, including spinach and (shudder) rhubarb. Anyway, here's an exerpt from a medical text on ethylene glycol -- oxalic acid plays some role, but as far as I'm aware not the really major one:
As with ethyl alcohol and methanol, EG is metabolized via ADH to form glycoaldehyde. Through interaction with aldehyde dehydrogenase, EG is then metabolized to glycolic acid (GA). A profound acidosis often ensues and is attributable to the GA in circulation. The patient may develop hyperventilation resulting from acidemia. The glycolate is transformed into glyoxylic acid. At this point, the molecule may be transformed into to the highly toxic oxalate or into the safer glutamate or alpha-ketoadipic acid metabolites. Formation of these safer metabolites may be promoted by the administration of particular vitamins. With the formation of oxalate crystals in the urine, calcium oxalate crystals form and accumulate in blood and other tissues. Precipitation of calcium oxalate in the renal cortex results in decreased glomerular filtration and renal insufficiency. Calcium is consumed in circulation, and hypocalcemia may occur.
Obligatory fishing content: I haven't fished much lately...
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