Epidemiology of Inhalant Abuse - Archives - National Institute on ...

TABLE 2. United Kingdom VSA-related deaths from gas fuels.
Product Deaths
Cigarette lighter refills (butane) 347
Domestic gas (butane) 56
Propane 8
Acetylene
Natural gas (methane)
Unspecified gas
Total 429
replacing the more toxic ethyl mercaptan at about 20 ppm with the
less odorous but less toxic THT at 70 ppm, (D. Morse, Shell Gas,
personal communication, 1993).
2. Aerosol products: The propellants are the components that are
misused, although some exposure to the other constituents is hard
to avoid. Chlor<strong>of</strong>luorocarbons (CFCs), principally fluorotrichloromethane
(FC 11) and FC 12, were commonly used propellants at
one time but have been phased out from most domestic products.
The rate <strong>of</strong> removal has not been as rapid in all countries as in the
United States (table 1). Some CFCs have been retained for medical
use where suitable substitutes are not readily at hand. PR Freeze
Spray (85 percent FC 11 and 15 percent FC 12) still is available in
the United Kingdom as an over-the-counter medicine used to ease
muscular pain and stiffness. It is readily abusable because it contains
no ingredients apart from CFCs; it is encountered commonly in VSA
fatalities (table 3). Although many other compounds are in
development as potential propellants (Trochimowicz 1992), aerosol
manufacturers worldwide have adopted butane as a practical
substitute for CFCs despite its flammability. Butane used as a
propellant is deodorized and is likely to contain only traces <strong>of</strong>
1, 3-butadiene. Some industrial aerosols and European domestic
products contain dimethyl ether, <strong>of</strong>ten blended with chlorodifluoromethane
(FC 22) to form a nonflammable azeotrope, as
216
2
1
15