Semi-OT: Danger of Kids Huffing Dust Off

Did anyone say what was causing the fatalities? Over pressure in the lungs? Contaminants?

Ed, NM2K

Read the story...Dust-Off cans contain more than just "compressed air"....

the problem is, It is NOT compressed air but a liquid propellant that expands into a gas when released. Human lungs tolerate our usual nitrogen, oxygen mixture real well, but filling your lungs with something else tends to be a REAL BAD idea

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:48:27 -0400, "Nemo" wrote in :

Propellants, in this case:

"It's not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant. I think its R2. Its a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator. It is a heavy gas. Heavier than air. When you inhale it, it fills your lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen, out. That's why you feel dizzy, buzzed. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart."

Marty

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:25:27 -0500, Bob Cowell wrote in :

DOH! That makes sense.

I'm looking at the can from my workshop and now see two things:

1. It's not Dust Off but Super Duster.
2. The contents are 1,1,1,2-tetrafluorethane. The ad label on the front of the can says "A Super BLAST of Air!"

The can also says that "vapors reduce available oxygen in air."

Amen.

Marty

Okay, so it isn't really compressed air at all.

I don't understand the motivation behind this social phenomenon. But I didn't understand my generation's fascination with LSD either. Having been raised in a chemical company town, it was always my goal to put as much distance between chemicals and myself as possible. Not the reverse.

Ed Cregger

same thing it has always been, Drugs are for people who can't handle reality.

I'm not sure how killing off the few active brain cells they have is supposed to help, but people do it all the time

bob

I think it is lack of oxygen which causes the high you get and also the fatalities or to a lesser extent mild brain damage.

They call it "dusting". Nature's way of thinning the herd.