BOFH wrote: The facts are right ahead of us. There are lethal levels of Zyklon B in our bottled water. That's why there's corpses laying around everywhere. Duhh!!!!

8 mg per liter are not lethal. You would have to drink 9 to 10 liters or even more of the tested brands depending on your body weight to get a lethal result.
Problem here is the long-term health effect of exposure to cyanide. Chronic cyanide poisoning leads to heart, brain and nerve damage.

Just a few facts:

Cyanide compounds are used in manufacture of synthetic rubber, plastics and textiles or as pesticides. Cyanide gas is used to exterminate pests in buildings.

• You could be exposed to cyanide by breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or touching soil that contains cyanide.
• Cyanide enters water, soil, or air as a result of both natural processes and industrial activities.

Good news: Cigarette smoke contains cyanide. So if you are a heavy smoker you might have built up some tolerances.


According to the USA Embassy Phnom Penh, in 2008, (yes, I know that’s long time ago, but do you really expect that anything has changed ?) Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy reported that more than 100 bottled- water companies in Cambodia were being considered for closure for failing to meet minimum production quality standards. Only 24 of the 130 bottled-water companies are compliant with the ministry’s Department of Industrial Standards.

still no credible citation?

btw zyklon b was a trade name for a compound so the assertion is in error prima facie.

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

frank lee bent wrote:still no credible citation?

I’m not forcing you to believe it. Cambodia is a relatively free country where businesses can freely produce and sell rotten food, contaminated beverages and water. You are free to gulp down 10 liters of that shit.

So I take it that's a way of saying the OP was .

OP says:

Just a few facts:
Cyanide compounds are used in manufacture of synthetic rubber, plastics and textiles or as pesticides. Cyanide gas is used to exterminate pests in buildings.

• You could be exposed to cyanide by breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or touching soil that contains cyanide.
• Cyanide enters water, soil, or air as a result of both natural processes and industrial activities.

EPA says(since you are using US references):
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants ... yanide.cfm

How does cyanide get into my drinking water?
The major source of cyanide in drinking water is discharge from industrial chemical factories.

Also:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/PHS/PHS.asp?id=70&tid=19

Most cyanide in surface water will form hydrogen cyanide and evaporate. However, the amount of hydrogen cyanide formed is generally not enough to be harmful to humans. Some cyanide in water will be transformed into less harmful chemicals by microorganisms (plants and animals of very small size), or will form a complex with metals, such as iron. The half-life of cyanide in water is not known. Cyanide in water does not build up in the bodies of fish.

Cyanides are fairly mobile in soil. Once in soils, cyanide can be removed through several processes. Some cyanide compounds in soil can form hydrogen cyanide and evaporate, whereas some cyanide compounds will be transformed into other chemical forms by microorganisms in soil. Consequently, cyanides usually do not seep into underground water. However, cyanide has been detected in underground waters of a few landfills and industrial waste disposal sites. At the high concentrations found in some landfill leachates (water that seeps through landfill soil) and in the wastes stored in some disposal sites, cyanide becomes toxic to soil microorganisms. Because these microorganisms can no longer change cyanide to other chemical forms, cyanide is able to passes through soil into underground water.

Just a couple of things: 1/ we are talking about cyanide not zyklon B.
2/ According to US govt sources, cyanide water contamination is usually caused by large-scale industrial pollution.
3/Therefore, there is more to fear from polluted groundwater in the US or in Europe than in Cambodia, where there is less industrialization.
3/ Your theory implies that most Cambodian water sources are located close to chemical factories and industrial landfills.
4/ You have not produced a single fact which links cyanide and bottled Cambodian water.

This doesn't mean that I believe that all Cambodian bottled water is pristine. But, it's much too easy to start nasty little rumours on the internet without proof.
So again, please s--- or get off the pot.
Just one link to a credible scientific study would be a start.

Basic Instinct wrote:

BOFH wrote: The facts are right ahead of us. There are lethal levels of Zyklon B in our bottled water. That's why there's corpses laying around everywhere. Duhh!!!! lease:

8 mg per liter are not lethal. You would have to drink 9 to 10 liters or even more of the tested brands depending on your body weight to get a lethal result.
Problem here is the long-term health effect of exposure to cyanide. Chronic cyanide poisoning leads to heart, brain and nerve damage.

In how short a period of time would this need to be consumed? That doesn't seem like a lot of water.

There is cyanide in apples.

MekongMouse wrote:In how short a period of time would this need to be consumed? That doesn't seem like a lot of water.

That’s an interesting question Mekong Mouse.

Schulz in 1982 estimated detoxification rate of cyanide in humans (in the absence of antidotes) is about 1 μg**/kg-minute.
McNamara (1976) estimated the detoxification rate in humans as 17 μg**/kg-minute based on a study in men injected intravenously (i.v.) with HCN. Lawrence in 1947, found that continuous i.v. infusion of NaCN into dogs at a rate of 0.013 mg/kg-minute was “tolerated over 37 hours” and speculated that this rate of infusion could be tolerated indefinitely. Infusion rates of 0.028 mg/kg-minute or higher resulted in lethality. Based on these findings, the whole-body rate of cyanide detoxification in dogs can be estimated to be approximately 13 μg/kg-minute.

** μg = microgram, 1 milligram = 1000 microgram


So lets do the calculation:

In case A (Schulz, 1 μg/kg-minute) for a 80 kg weighing man detoxification would take: 100 minutes

In case B (McNamara, 17 μg/kg-minute) for a 80 kg weighing man detoxification would take: 5.88 minutes

Now of course it’s getting a bit crazy because whether you take A or B, if you consume ten, eleven or twelve liters of water within that time the cyanide becomes irrelevant. That amount of water itself would kill you.

would this be the reason why ive noticed the bottled water has a nasty kick to it now sometimes? i noticed it when i was in the province and ive had the odd bottle down the beach taste like it too? note: i noticed the taste before first reading the article..

Can't tell you. Cambodian water always has a nasty kick to it. But the water tested came from Phnom Penh.