Carbon MonoxideTaylor Dydalewicz, Tracy Benitez,

Melissa Larimore5th

Carbon Monoxide

• Odorless• Colorless• Tasteless• Consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen

atom • Highly toxic to humans and animals in high

quantities

Carbon Monoxide

• Most common type of fatal air poisoning in most countries

• Symptoms of poisoning:– Headache– Nausea– Vomiting– Dizziness – Fatigue– Feeling of weakness

Causes• Exposure typically occurs when equipment is used in

buildings or semi-enclosed spaces• following the use of a self-contained underwater breathing

apparatus (SCUBA) due to faulty diving air compressors• Riding in pickup trucks has led to poisoning in children• Idling automobiles with the exhaust pipe blocked by snow

has led to the poisoning of car occupants• Generators and propulsion engines on boats, especially

houseboats, has resulted in fatal carbon monoxide exposures

• Exposure to the organic solvent dichloromethane, found in some paint strippers.

Steps to Reduce Exposure of Carbon Monoxide

•Keep gas appliances properly adjusted.•Consider purchasing a vented space heater when replacing an unvented one.•Use proper fuel in kerosene space heaters.•Install and use an exhaust fan vented to outdoors over gas stoves.•Open flues when fireplaces are in use.•Choose properly sized wood stoves that are certified to meet EPA emission standards. Make certain that doors on all wood stoves fit tightly.•Have a trained professional inspect, clean, and tune-up central heating system (furnaces, flues, and chimneys) annually. Repair any leaks promptly.•Do not idle the car inside garage.

Case Study #1

• 5 teens rented a hotel room to celebrate one teens 19th birthday all five were found dead and died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a car they left running in a garage under the hotel room. The car had needed a jump-start earlier and could have been left running to keep the battery charged. A door to a staircase up to the room had been left open, and high levels of carbon monoxide were found inside.

Case Study #2• In 1995, Laura Jones (33) and her husband Pete (35) bought a house that was

built in 1958. It was thoroughly inspected and nothing was determined to be defective. It was heated by a forced-air, natural gas furnace in the basement, and the hot water was provided by a gas-fired water heater, also in the basement.

• Beginning in the autumn of 1995, Laura Jones began having headaches and feeling very tired. Her two children, Lilian (12) and Eric (9), and her husband Pete occasionally awoke in the morning with headaches, dizziness, and nausea. They believed that they all had a touch of "flu" or had eaten bad food. Mrs. Jones continued to feel "out of it" for the remainder of 1995 and into the spring of 1996. Her physician, Dr. Whitewash, gave her a "physical", obtaining chest X-rays, blood for complete CBC, and samples for a Pap smear test. He found nothing wrong, saying that "flu" has been going around.

Case Study #2

• During the summer of 1996, Mrs. Jones and the whole family felt much better, although she and the children continued to have frequent headaches and to feel slightly fatigued. They felt better when they went away for vacation for two weeks. The symptoms appeared again in October of 1996. On visits to several doctors, she was told that there was nothing wrong with her.

• A contractor discovered that the heat exchanger in the old furnace was badly rusted through, that the near horizontal run of flue pipe to the chimney was also rusted through, and that the old brick chimney was oversize, unlined, and partially blocked near the top. The CO levels in the house were observed to attain 176 ppm after one hour.

• As of early 1999, the Jones family is attempting to recover from the health problems caused by their old, leaking furnace. They have been seen by a number of health professionals with varying results: neurologists, toxicologists, and neuropsychologists.

Works Cited

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide

• http://www.epa.gov/iaq/co.html#Sources of Carbon Monoxide

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40822792/ns/us_news-life/

• http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2003/action3/docs/2003_3_09_cs2_en.pdf