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What Is Carbon Monoxide?

CO Carbon Monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in America, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Fifteen hundred people die annually due to accidental carbon monoxide exposure, and additional 10,000 seek medical attention. (Medical experts agree that it’s difficult to estimate the total number of carbon monoxide incidents because the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning resemble so many other common ailments.)

Carbon monoxide is a flammable, colorless, odorless, tasteless toxic gas produced during incomplete combustion of fuel.

During normal combustion, each atom of carbon in the burning fuel joins with two atoms of oxygen – forming a harmless gas called carbon dioxide. When there is a lack of oxygen to ensure complete combustion of the fuel, each atom of carbon links up with only one atom of oxygen – forming carbon monoxide gas.

What Is The Danger?

Carbon monoxide inhibits the blood’s capacity to carry oxygen. In our lungs, CO quickly passes into our bloodstream and attaches itself to hemoglobin (oxygen carrying pigment in red blood cells). Hemoglobin readily accepts carbon monoxide – even over the life giving oxygen atoms (as much as 200 times as readily as oxygen) forming a toxic compound known