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APPE N D I X E REVIEW OF CO TOXICITY Excerpt from R. R. Montgomery, C. F. Reinhardt, and J. B. Terril l , "Comments on Fire Toxicity," pa pe r presented a t the Polymer Conference Series ( Flammability of Materials Program) Salt lake City, Utah, July 1 1 , 1 974. ..·
M I N ES A N D B U N K E R S Carbon Monox ide (CO) : In poorly ventil ated fi res w i th l i m i ted 02 combustion is i ncomplete and the end products a re CO and other degradation prod ucts, water, and less heat . O veral l , of all the gases ge nerated in real f i re s i tuations, CO is acknow· ledged as the gas that p roduces the most deaths ( 2 1 ] . The genera l physiolog i cal effect of increasi ng atmospheric concentrations of th i s color less, odorless gas is show n i n Table I l l ( 20, 33, 34 ] . Physical exert ion , age , health and smo k i ng habits can al l affect i nd i vidual response . Table I V as g i ven i n the account of an exposu re to an est i mated goo- 1 000 ppm CO from a leak i ng exhaust p i pe i nto an Anchorage Alaska , s ports are na ( 3 5 ] , shows the variety of symptoms and the var iation i n respon se that may occur. CO, u n l i ke most poisons, has no k nown lasting effects i f seconda ry tissue da mage from 02 depletion does not develop ( 1 2 , 34, 36] . CO read i l y displaces oxygen from hemog l ob i n and a l so i n terferes with del i very of 02 to t i ssues and removal of C02 from blood . I rreversi ble t i ss ue damage may develop if the bra i n is depr i ved of 02 fo r more than 5- 1 0 m i n utes. However, adeq uate 02 may aga i n d isplace CO a s shown i n t h e eq u i l ibr i um : ( where H b means hemog l obi n ) We can corre late percent atmospheric C O and t i me of exposure w i th b l ood car· box yhe mogl obi n . Several rev i ews ( 1 2 , 34 ] di scuss this subject in detai l and an exhaustive study of the k i netics of uptake and e l i m i nation of CO has recently appeared ( 37 1 . TA B I .E Ill. P H YSIO I..OGIC A I. R E S PO NSE TO CO ( 2 0 , 33 , 34) CO i n Atm'"l, R e spo n s e 0. 01 A l lowab l e exposure for several hou r s . 0 . 04 - 0 . 05 1'\o apprec i a b l e effect after 1 ho u r . 0 . 06 - 0 . 0 7 Just apprec i ab l e effect aft e r 1 ho u r . 0. 1 - 0. 1 2 l ' npl eas ant after 1 hour (headac h e , naus ea). 0. l!'i - 0 . 2 Dange rous when inhaled fo r 1 hour ( i nc apac itation, col l apse) . 0. 3 E s t i m ated danger l e v e l fo r 1 / 2 hour . 0. 4 Fat a l when inhaled fo r l e s s than 1 hou r . F atal w h e n i n haled fo r 1 m i nute . 1 72
APP E N D I X E TABLE IV. SYM PTOMS AND SIGNS OF C A R BO N MONOXIDE POISONING R E POR TE D BY 5 1 ILL P E R SONS PR ESEN T IN THE S POR TS A R E NA ON MAR C H 20 , 1 96 9 (35) 35 7 9 51 Broomball Hocker Play e r s P l ayers Adults Total Slmj!tom Percent Percent � � Headache 91 57 1 00 88 Diz z i ness 77 43 11 61 N ausea 49 43 44 47 Tinnitus 43 14 0 31 Disorientation 31 14 0 24 Numbness of feet 26 29 11 24 Blurred vision 20 14 Numbness of hands 9 6 Vomiting 3 2 I..D s s of conactousness 3 2 References cited in Mon tgomery, Reinhardt, and Terri l l 1 2 . A.J . Pyror a n d C . H . Yu i l l , Mass Fire L ife Hazard, O C D Work U n i t 2 537A F inal Report Southwest R esearch I nstitute ( Sa n Anton io, Texas : Southwest Research I ns t i tute, 1 988) . 20. R. E. R e i nke and C. F . R e i nhard t , " F i res, Toxicity and P lastics," Mod. Plast. 50 ( 1 973) : 94-5. 97-8. 2 1 . J. Auti a n , "Toxicologic Aspects of F lamma b i l i ty and Combustion of Polyme ric Mater i als," J . Fire & Flammability 1 ( 1 970 ) : 2 39--68. 33. J. M. l ves, E . E. H ughes, and J. K . Taylor, Toxic Atmospheres Associated w ith Real F i re Situations, NBS Report 1 0807 (Wash i ngton , D . C . : U .S. Department of Commerce, 1 972) . 34. F . A. Patty, ed . , Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology, 2nd ed . , Vol . 2 ( New Yor k : Joh n Wi ley, 1 963) . 35. A. R . Saslow and P. S . Clark, "Carbon Monoxide Poison i ng," J. Occup. Med. 1 5 ( 1 973) : 490-2 . 36. H . Bour and I . MeA . Led i ngham, "Carbon Monoxide Poisoning," Progress in Brain Research, Vol . 24 ( New York : E l sevier Publ ishing Co 1 967 ) . .⢠37 . J . A . MacG regor, " K i netics o f U ptake and E l i m ination of Ca rbon Monox ide," pape r presented at the I nternational Sy mpos i u m on Phys iologica l and Tox i cological Aspects of Combustion Products. Sal t Lake C i ty . Utah , March 1 8-20, 1 974. 1 73
