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Author
Yamamoto, K.
Title
On the Acute Toxicities of the Combustion Products of Various Fibers, with Special Reference to Blood Cyanide and Po2 Values.
Coporate
Kyoto Univ., Japan
Journal
Zeitschrift fur Rechtsmediine, Vol. 81, 173-180, 1978
Sponsor
National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
Report
NBS SP 540
Distribution
Available from Government Printing Office
Book or Conf
National Bureau of Standards. Fire Research and Safety. 3rd Joint Panel proceedings Conference of the U.S. Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources (UJNR). March 13-17, 1978, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD, Sherald, M. A., Editors, 520-527 p., 1979
Keywords
combustion products | toxic gases
Abstract
The evaluation method of the toxicities of various materials at fires and the studies on the harmful effects of various combustion products are considered to be the main subjects in the toxicology on combustion. The present report chiefly concerns with the second item. Combustion toxicology generally deals with the gaseous form, therefore, inhalation route is the main entrance route of the toxicants into the bodies. There can be marked differences in concentrations and in distribution patterns of the toxic materials in the body with different routes of administration. That the above can hold for cyanide too was indicated in the author's previous experiments with rats and rabbits, in which two routes of administration, per os and inhalation routes, were used [1]. Since there is only a limited number of data on the distribution of cyanide in the body exposed to HCN gas [2,3,4,5,6], it seemed to be worthwhile, as a first step to obtain such basic data, to determine the blood cyanide concentrations in the different parts of the body. The present reort includes the data on blood Po2 level as well as cyanide. This is based on the following considerations that this parameter can be used for a diagnosis, whether death is an asphyxial one or not, and that Po2 can become a key to the problem of identity of the gases responsible for the toxic effects of the combustion products.