Wanna bet?
But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid)
http://www.alnyethelawyerguy.com/al_nye_the_lawyer_guy/2007/03/so_what_really_.html
It's also used as a stabilizer in styrene and polyester monomers, as well as, quite a few organic peroxide blends. Also, to call it related to butane is one hell of a stretch. Butane is a aliphatic organic compound where as TBHQ is a siginificantly more complex aromatic compound derived from hydroquinone. About the only thing TBHQ has in common with butane is that it does have a four carbon chain bonded in the meta position to a phenolic ring. I the world of organic chemistry butane has about as much in common with TBHQ as an elephant does with a jelly fish.
To say you've been poisoned at McD's cause they use TBHQ as a stabilizer is a bit of a stretch. It's used in ppm levels where as it's LD 50 (lethal dose 50%) is about 1000 mg/kg of body weight. That essentially means it's not toxic as a 100 Kg man would have to eat about 100 g (~ 3.5 oz) to acheive a toxic dose. See portion of study below;
"2.1.1.3 Humans
Human subjects (males) received TBHQ under the following
conditions: (1) a gelatin capsule containing 150 mg TBHQ; (2) a
mixture of TBHQ (2%) in corn oil and graham cracker crumbs, equivalent
to a dose of 125 mg TBHQ; (3) 100 mg dissolved in cottonseed oil
contained in a gelatin capsule; (4) 20 g of mixture containing TBHQ,
2% cottonseed oil and 2% confectioners' sugar in graham cracker
crumbs. Doses of TBHQ ranged from 20 to 70 mg. Subjects one, two and
three drank milk immediately after ingesting test material; subject
four ate doughnuts and drank coffee.
Urine was collected from subjects 24 hours before dosing and
during the 72-hour period after dosing. Blood was collected by
veni-puncture at 3 or 5 and 24 hour after-dosing. Clinical
observations were made immediately before ingestion and 3 to 6 hours
after, and consisted of blood pressure, pulse response, condition of
pharynx, conjunctivae and pupils and neurological effects.
Haematological studies consisted of haemoglobin, cell volume, WBC,
differentials, reticulocyte and platelet counts, and total protein.
Urinalysis consisted of SpGr, albumin, reducing sugars, ketone bodies,
occult blood, pH and sediment. Levels of TBHQ in serum and metabolites
of TBHQ in urine were also determined.
There was no evidence of any systemic effect following ingestion
of TBHQ. No significant changes were observed in haematological
studies or urinalysis. Examination of urine indicated that TBHQ was
excreted as the o-sulfate and o-glucuronide conjugates (ratio
approximately 3:1). These were mainly recovered during the first 24
hours. No free TBHQ was detected at any time. The manner of ingestion
had a marked effect on the proportion of the dose recovered from
urine. TBHQ administered by methods 1 and 3 resulted in only 22-4% of
the dose being recovered in the urine, whereas method 2 resulted in
90-100% recovery. In all cases, the same metabolic products were
present in urine. High recoveries of TBHQ metabolites in urine were
accompanied by a serum level of 31-37 mg TBHQ/litre at 3 hours for
subject two, compared to 4-12 mg/litre for subjects one and three. At
24 hours these levels had fallen to 15 mg/litre for subject two and
2-12 mg/litre for subjects one and three (Astill et al., 1967c)."
http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v040je02.htm
