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Posted By: davidcy

The famous British statistician George E. P. Box said it was amusing attending US Government meetings where American lawyers set the laws for how much chemicals or pollutants or whatever were allowed in the air, water or wherever. After just setting the legal standard for how much arsenic was allowed in the environment, a Congressman asked Box why he was chuckling to himself. Box explained that, while poisonous at certain parts per million, human bodies require a small amount of arsenic. He explained that if the US lowered the arsenic in the environment to the parts per million required by this law, all Americans would have to take arsenic pills to live.