Well, he has a point. Chloride is chlorine minus an electron, so they’re not technically the same thing. However, my nitpick is that NaCl has >50% chlorine, because Cl weighs more than Na.
No. Chloride is the ionic form Cl-. It’s sodium chloride not sodium chlorine. Chlorine is Cl2
Hey, anything’s possible, I guess. White Castle hamburgers give me a migraine, too. (Sure as hell haven’t seen any studies of THAT one! 
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The placebo effect really is amazing. My grandmother is extremely succeptible to it. She sprained her ankle a while back, and insisted it was immediately cured when she put turpentine on it. She also claims her trouble sleeping was cured by breathing lavendar essence. I decided long ago that I wouldn’t interfere with it unless it seemed to be a true medical emergency. If she’s happy with it, more power to her.
I still get migraines once in a blue moon. The last time I had one, I was suffering so badly I called to ask her if she had any Tylenol 3’s still hanging around. (I know, I know-- don’t try this at home, because it’s illegal to take other people’s prescriptions, but dammit, I was hurtin’.I probably would have taken crack if she had any!)
Well, she didn’t have any Tylenol, but she said she did have something which would “fix me right up”-- liquid vitamin B complex. She’d be right over. I almost told her not to bother. The pain was making me impatient with any holistic wacko cures. She arrived, bearing a little bottle of it, and urged me to take three eye-droppersful. I did, grudgingly.
I was astonished-- within a few minutes, the pain had decreased to a bearable level. It didn’t eliminate it, but it decreased it demonstrably, at least enough to let me sleep until the rest was gone.
If that was the placebo effect, hallelujah for it. I now keep a bottle of it in my cupboard for headache emergencies. In this case, I don’t care if my body is lying to me-- if it works, then all’s gravy.
The important nitpick is that chemically chlorine and sodium chloride behave completely differently and have completely different safety profiles. The chloride ion in NaCl is pretty harmless while chlorine is a deadly gas. Admittedly it’s probalby impossibvle that the “three chlorine atoms” would exist in the Cl2 form, but I’m just saying. And technically we don’t know what form the Cl “atoms” are in so we don’t know what it means for the safety as Splenda.
But Of course I’ll still eat Splenda and …on second thought I gather that the fire engine was just saying that the chlorine atoms don’t prove it’s harmful, not that they’re necessarily safe. Which is true. Never mind.
Never realized ionic forms of elements were considered as separate entities. Nice job on your part of fighting ignorance. Thanks 