SoCal city falls victim to Internet hoax, considers banning items made with water

City officials were so concerned about the potentially dangerous properties of dihydrogen monoxide that they considered banning foam cups after they learned the chemical was used in their production.

Then they learned that dihydrogen monoxide - H2O for short - is the scientific term for water.

It's embarrassing, said City Manager David J. Norman. We had a paralegal who did bad research.

The paralegal apparently fell victim to one of the many official looking Web sites that have been put up by pranksters to describe dihydrogen monoxide as an odorless, tasteless chemical that can be deadly if accidentally inhaled.

(from The Mercury News).