Anti-inhalant abuse campaign targets building codes; 'huffing' of air conditioning refrigerant a dangerous risk.FOR DANA Prothro, Thanksgiving 2007 was a nightmare. Returning home from work, she was eager to see her daughter Erica, who had just returned from college for Thanksgiving break. Instead, she found her lying on the floor. At 19 years old, Erica had died suddenly after inhaling refrigerant re·frig·er·ant adj. 1. Cooling or freezing; refrigerating. 2. Reducing fever. n. 1. A substance, such as air, ammonia, water, or carbon dioxide, used to provide cooling either as the working substance of from their home air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. unit. Erica's story is far too common in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . In fact, a new report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an operating division of the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), was established in 1992 by the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Reorganization Act (Pub. L. No. 102-321). and the National Inhalant inhalant /in·hal·ant/ (in-hal´ant) 1. something meant to be inhaled; see inhalation (def. 3). 2. a class of psychoactive substances whose volatile vapors are subject to abuse. Prevention Coalition at a Washington, D.C., news conference in March revealed that more than 1 million youth tried inhalants inhalants, n.pl 1. chemical vapors that are inhaled for their mind-altering effects. 2. in herbology, volatile herbal compounds that are delivered by holding a soaked pad to the nose and mouth, by placing the herbs in steaming water, or last year, though there is no exact statistic on refrigerant abuse. Inhaling refrigerants Chemical refrigerants are assigned an R number(sometimes the label replaces it with the word Freon) which is determined systematically according to molecular structure. The following is a list of refrigerants with their R numbers, IUPAC chemical name, molecular formula, and CAS number. is by no means a new phenomenon, declining in popularity several years ago, Mona Casey, founder of United Parents to Restrict Open Access to Refrigerant, told The Nation's Health. However, the practice is now back and on the rise, especially among 12- to 17-year-olds, she said. Often, the Internet allows youth to learn how to acquire refrigerant from the air conditioning units outside their homes, or young people learn about "huffing" from their older counterparts, Casey said. The piece of information that is often left out, though, is that huffing can be deadly upon first use. This is a fact that Pro-thro is now all too familiar with. After the death of her daughter, she joined Casey's advocacy group in the fight to curb the dangerous youth trend by calling for a change in building codes. Recently, the group was successful in changing widely used commercial building codes to recommend placing locking caps on the outside refrigerant access points of air conditioner units. The group is now campaigning for states to adopt the model code and encouraging the International Code Council, which develops commercial building codes, to endorse the retrofitting of old air conditioning systems as well. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I am here on behalf of my 19-year-old daughter, Erica, and all those who have lost a life from the nature of this dangerous toxic chemical refrigerant," Prothro said at the news conference. "Erica made a mistake, a mistake that took her life within minutes. I want to thank the (International Code Council) for adopting our code to secure refrigerant from such easy access by those who are untrained and have no clue that they are playing with danger and death." Like Prothro, many parents are unaware of the dangers of huffing, not to mention the risk of having traditional, unlocked caps on their air conditioning units. One-third of people surveyed in the SAMHSA SAMHSA Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report, which was released to kick off National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week, did not know that huffing could lead to immediate cardiac arrest--known as "sudden sniffing death"--noted Edward Jurith, acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was established by the National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988 (21 U.S.C.A. § 1501 et seq.) and began operations in January 1989. , at the news conference. Similarly, the University of Michigan's 2008 Monitoring the Future Monitoring the Future is an annual survey given to 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders in the United States to determine drug use trends and patterns. The survey started in 1975, with 12th graders. It was expanded in 1991 to include 8th and 10th graders as well. Survey found parallel data indicating that the perception of the danger of experimenting with inhalants is at its lowest point among eighth-graders since 1991, with only 34 percent indicating a belief that trying inhalants just once or twice could be harmful. "Among youth, perception is reality," Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, said at the news conference. "When they believe that inhalant use is neither risky nor unacceptable, use of inhalants increases. If parents do not perceive the dangers and their children dismiss them, there will be more tragedy and more youngsters who die from 'sudden sniffing death' or become addicted to inhalants." Educating children about the dangers of drug use is not just about teaching them to say "no," emphasized Timothy Condon, PhD, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal-government research institute whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction. . "We have to figure out how to change social norms, and this is the hardest nut to crack," he said at the news conference. For more information, visit http://oas.samhsa.gov, www.inhalants.drugabuse. gov and www.uproarorg. org. |
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