Mmmmm... doubt they have any of that on the ice planet! *grins* And yes, the point is to cause pain and distress, not nec. permanent injury - which does make a huge difference in the writing.

You could borrow the effects of something like that, though, and just make up some alien creature from which the substance has been derived. A time honored trick of scifi writers. Not to mention the Doctor could try to be all rational and yak at Rose about how fascinating the stuff is, and how similar it is to X, Y or Z from Earth ('...galaxies away, but they evolved the same tactic for dealing with similar prey...').

I'm just trying to think of ways to make it less squick-inducing for you as a writer.