Guess who writes:
On 9 Mar 2005 22:03:06 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

In *small* quantities, it is also used as a substitute for "medicinal"
castor oil,

Hydrocarbon products are poisonous and carcinogenic.

That's quite an overgeneralization. Vegetable oil is, after all, _a_
hydrocarbon.

No it's not. It's a carbohydrate.

No, it's a triglyceride, a bonding of one glycerol and three fatty
acids (two of oleic acid and one of palmitic acid, for olive oil for
example). Carbohydrates are things like sugars and starches.

Note that vegetable oils *do* become slightly carcinogenic when heated
beyond their "smoke point".

Fatty acids and gasoline have remarkably similar chemical formulas:

Fatty Acid:

H H H O
| | | |
H-C-C-...-C-C-OH
| | |
H H H

Gasoline:

H H H H
| | | |
H-C-C-...-C-C-H
| | | |
H H H H