-Caveat Lector-
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace
alarmed (and hence clamorous to be lead to safety) by menacing
it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
--H. L. Mencken
~~for educational purposes only~~
[Title 17 U.S.C. section 107]
Government Asphyxiation
by Brian Dunaway
It doesn’t help that this "Threat Condition Orange"
perfectly coincides with the administration’s
desperate attempts to link al Qaeda with Saddam
Hussein, but let’s leave politics aside for the
moment.
Houston press has reported that Lowe’s and Home
Depot stores throughout Harris County have sold
out of the plastic sheeting, duct tape, and other
supplies recommended by the Office of Homeland
Defense (OHD) in order for citizens to be better
prepared in the event of an terrorist act. It’s the
same all over the nation.
This is a very serious health issue.
"Place a dry cleaning bag over your head and await
further instructions." This may as well have been
the instructions by the time they filtered down to
Betty Sue in Omaha. But we all know Betty Sue
doesn’t have anything to worry about, does she?
Well, she does if she follows the instructions from
OHD.
The cause for most concern is the OHD plan for &q
uot;What to do during a chemical or biological
attack":
Seek shelter in an internal room, preferably
one without windows. Seal the room with duct
tape and plastic sheeting. Ten square feet of
floor space per person will provide sufficient
air to prevent carbon dioxide build-up for up
to five hours.
And Good Morning America’s Home Improvement
Editor, Ron Hazelton, assured his viewers:
Don't worry about running out of air. Every ten
square feet of floor space will last an adult
about 5 hours. And don't leave the room until
you get instructions from the Emergency
Broadcast System to do so.
But notice the discrepancy in the phrases "to
prevent carbon dioxide build-up" and "don't worry
about running out of air." Hazelton is actually
correct (probably accidentally) that the amount of
oxygen corresponding to a ten square foot space is
probably sufficient (though marginal) to sustain an
adult for about five hours, but the critical issue is
not oxygen consumption, but carbon dioxide
generation and accumulation. The OHD statement is
correct in identifying carbon dioxide accumulation
as a concern, but its conclusions are surprising, to
say the least.
Assuming an eight-foot ceiling (yielding eighty
cubic feet per person) and a subject metabolic rate
of 800 BTU/hr, after five hours the partial pressure
of carbon dioxide (ppCO2) would be ~67 mm Hg
(if the initial ppCO2 were zero). It cannot be
understated: this is very high.
(Note: 800 BTU/hr (3.36 kcal/min) is not
unreasonable for a very excited person in a hot and
humid enclosure with elevated carbon dioxide
(more on that in a moment). For this case, a bare
(but irresponsible) minimum might be 600 BTU/hr
(corresponding to a ppCO2 level of 50 mm Hg after
five hours). Consider that NASA Environmental
Control and Life Support (ECLS) engineers
typically assume a waking metabolic rate of 450
BTU/hr for moderate intravehicular activity, and
this is with very physically efficient subjects
(astronauts) not using major muscle groups (e.g.,
legs) in microgravity.)
Keep in mind that the maximum operational limit
for the Shuttle Orbiter is 7.6 mm Hg, and is actually
lower for the International Space Station. The
NASA Spacecraft Maximum Allowable
Concentration (SMAC) for carbon dioxide is 10.0
mm Hg for a one-hour period. Similar values can be
found among the literature of the various military
branches.
The NASA Bioastronautics Data Book (Second
Edition, pp. 4849) indicates that after only 80
minutes, at a ppCO2 level of ~18 mm Hg, the
subject can experience "mental depression,
headache, dizziness, nausea." At ~45 mm Hg (after
80 minutes), the subject experiences "marked
deterioration leading to dizziness and stupor, with
inability to take steps for self preservation. The
final state is unconsciousness." (The level in our
case would not reach 45 mm Hg after 80 minutes,
but the threshold of the aforementioned symptoms
would be at a much lower CO2 level at the end of
five hours.)
Industry literature is similar.
The W.E. Kuriger Associates web page titled
"Carbon Dioxide Fact Book," states that,
Several studies have indicated that CO2 does
not seriously impact human health until levels
reach approximately 15,000 ppm [7.5 mm Hg].
… At extremely high levels, i.e., 30,000 ppm
[15 mm Hg] (these concentrations are usually
never reached in a standard home), the
symptoms can include nausea, dizziness,
mental depression, shaking, visual
disturbances and vomiting. At extremely high
levels, loss of consciousness may occur. …
Finally, CO2 is an asphyxiate, a condition in
which an extreme decrease in the amount of
oxygen in the body, accompanied by an
increase of carbon dioxide, leads to loss of
consciousness or death. Concentrations of
100,000 ppm [50 mm Hg] or more of CO2 can
produce unconsciousness or death.
And carbon dioxide is hardly the only physiological
concern.
One would probably pass out from heat exhaustion
before he passed out from exposure to high carbon
dioxide concentrations.
It’s probably not a bad assumption to consider the
system adiabatic (no heat transfer there would be
very little heat transfer via conduction, which is the
only mechanism for heat transfer to the environment
in this scenario), and considering the thermal
capacitance of the subject (the thermal capacitance
of the surrounding air is only about 1% of that of the
subject), suffice to say that the subject would have
very serious core temperature problems long before
five hours time (a three, four degree elevation per
hour?)
And within about ten to fifteen minutes after being
in this enclosure the air would become saturated,
that is, 100% relative humidity (and condensate
would start forming on the plastic). As the air
temperature and humidity increases (deteriorating
the mechanisms for rejecting the subject’s
metabolic heat), and carbon dioxide levels
increase, and as oxygen is depleted (at the end of
five hours, at 800 BTU/hr the subject would be at
an altitude equivalency of ~19,000 feet (0.47 atm.),
at 600 BTU/hr ~14,000 feet (0.60 atm.)), his
metabolic rate will increase, in turn increasing the
metabolic heat and perspired and respired water
vapor he generates, creating a vicious cycle.
And, of course, children and elderly can withstand
much less of this kind of environment than adults.
Perhaps the worst aspect of the dissemination of
this information is that the balance of the press,
including network news broadcasters, didn’t even
mention a time limit at all.
Other aspects of the OHD statement are very odd
how many folks are wealthy enough to have an
inside room with no windows (other than a closet,
which would, according to their recommendations,
only be sufficient for one person)?
And plastic sheeting? That’s awfully vague. Surely
there are permeability and robustness issues here.
The Washington Post reported that in a local D.C.
hardware store "plastic dropcloths were being
evaluated with one aim in mind: Would they work
to seal a room?" Good question, but not likely.
Considering that only a very tiny proportion of the
population (and obviously no one at the Office of
Homeland Security) are trained to make these
calculations and decisions, and remembering that a
significant portion of the population doesn’t know
their "right hand from their left," may God bless
them, the instructions from the OHD are cause for
very serious concern.
So please give this wide circulation there is a
high likelihood that there are plenty of folks already
out there sitting in an enclosure that they believe to
be safe, unknowingly endangering the lives of
themselves and their children.
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