Boo, Good to raise public awareness about dangers of CO gas

Once I began having children, I found myself drawn to the “Women’s Magazines” at the supermarket check out. Interested in keeping my children safe I repeatedly noticed how over the last 20 years, the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning have consistently made news in everything from Good Housekeeping to Woman’s World. Kits to check for carbon monoxide in your home are readily available at Home Depot and other retailers and awareness of carbon monoxide dangers have been the subject of everything from news broadcasts to Oprah. Why?

We all know that large amounts of carbon monoxide are fatal. (i.e. suicide by car parked in un-vented garage). What many people do not know is how severely carbon monoxide in low doses can degrade their health. Exposure higher than a few ppm can produce symptoms like headaches and drowsiness. Since theses symptoms are linked to many other causes, people often don’t suspect CO poisoning. CO inhibits the transfer of Oxygen molecules throughout the bloodstream. The CO molecules attach themselves to hemoglobin in the blood and limit the amount of hemoglobin available to attach to O2 molecules. This creates a condition where the heart must work harder to pump the available oxygen. If caught early, the CO can be displaced by forcing excessive amounts of O2 in to the bloodstream. Unfortunately the process of replacement takes time and as much as 30% of the 700,000 reported cases of CO poisoning in the U.S. each year result in some degree of brain damage. The CO inhaled by smokers and even non-smokers inhaling second hand smoke can lead to severe cardio vascular problems.

Hemoglobin: A hemoprotein composed of globin and heme that gives red blood cells their color; function primarily to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues

Although the information in the text was not new to me, I was pleased to know that college students are learning about the dangers of CO poisoning so that they can be proactive in protecting their families now and in the future.

Baird, Colin, Chemistry in Your Life, 2nd Edition, pgs 90-91, Freeman, NY, 2006

WordNet 3.0, 2006 by Princeton University