EXHAUST GAS RISKS

Shannon News, 14 September 1928, Page 4

EXHAUST GAS RISKS

In America a wave of hysteria concerning the danger of poisoning of citydwellers by automobile -exhaust gases has been sweeping the country for some months past. Carbon monoxide gas, product of incomplete combustion, which prevents delivery of oxygen to the tissues of the body by combining with the haemoglobin of the blood, has been cited most often as the chief source of danger. The United States public health service has just completed a survey in which 250 samples of air were taken and tested from 14 large cities totalling 19,000,000 population. "The average of 141 tests made m city streets during peak traffic hours showed a contamination of 0.8 of one part in 10,000," says the report. "Only 24 per cent, of all the street samples showed more than one part in 10,000, and in only one place, a covered passageway, was there as much as two parts in 10,000. Samples taken inside busses yielded even lower concentrations."

A person can breathe an atmosphere containing four parts in 10,000 for several hours with only a resulting headache and, some discomfort, while it takes a concentration, as high as three parts in 1000 to produce unconsciousness in 25 to 30 minutes and even this is not necessarily fatal if the victim is immediately removed to fresh air. From this it can be seen that the carbon monoxide exhausted from automobiles in the city streets presents no real health hazard. Higher concentrations were found in garages, however, by the public health service. There is a definite danger in lotting a motor run for a short time in a roofed enclosure, and every car owner is warned not to let his ear run and exhaust its gases in a closed garage longer than is absolutely necessary when driving in or out