The world watched with disgust when it was learned that Ukranian candidate Viktor Yushcheko was poisoned with dioxin.  But with a dose 6,000 times higher than average, perhaps many wondered how he managed to survive.  Well the answer, according to science writer Michael Fumento, is that dioxin is not nearly as dangerous as people think.  Fumento notes that dioxin was first believed to be deadly after it was fed in massive quantities to guinea pigs, but that many other animals can absorb much higher doses, and it has never been proven to be a human carcinogen.  Indeed, even at the famous polluted site of Love Canal, numerous studies found no excess illness.  So Yushchenko should be glad it was dioxin and not strychnine.