In determining the effects of electromagnetic radiation (ER) on the human body we must know beforehand what its effects are on pure water as a baseline. This is not as easy a proposition as it may seem. Water is composed of a very complex chiral molecule, and we must understand ER interactions at this level before looking at the water containing foreign substances, such as proteins. Knowing the ionic character of water might enable us to design pharmaceuticals more effectively, determine the efficacy of vitamin absorption, and even assess the effects of electromagnetic fields in tumor formation. Admittedly, the search for baseline effects of EMR on chemically pure and ionically neutral water are reductionistic, but such is the nature of discovery at the molecular level.