• Toxic aspartame. The rumor is that methanol, "a deadly cumulative poison," is released from aspartame artificial sweetener. In fact, methanol can be liberated from aspartame, but only in trace amounts and only when aspartame is heated to 120 degrees. Orange juice and other foods contain higher levels of methanol than you’re likely to find in a soft drink, Dr. Rangan said.
• Urine antidote. The poison control hotline gets many calls from victims of jellyfish stings wanting to know if they should urinate on themselves. The short answer? No. It’s not clear where this myth got started, Dr. Rangan said. While the acetic acid in urine might help, the urea is likely to have the opposite effect. It would be much better to use saline solution as a rinse, he said.