Helium Balloons...

[big_si]

Originally Posted by dragonlid

Hope this helps , however you cant legislate for idiocy (and the end user ie baloon shop owner/ sales assistant will be aware of the hazzard's and should tell you that its an asphixiant some where allong the line) but once its in your hands , common sense some times seems to go out the window !

I suspect it's very unlikely to be told this information when buying a balloon though.... Everyone at sometime in their life has seen the squeeky voice trick and it wouldn't cross their mind for a second that there's any real danger involved.

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by big_si

I suspect it's very unlikely to be told this information when buying a balloon though.... Everyone at sometime in their life has seen the squeeky voice trick and it wouldn't cross their mind for a second that there's any real danger involved.

That's it Si, they have seen it and its OK... but for a few that Leigh G is looking into it wasn't OK - it was 'lights out' - forever. I have experienced something akin to a 'dimming' of the light from a couple of breaths of a high He/low O2 atmosphere - one lucky boy to get out of there. Now, we never allow anyone into our gas storage space on a dive vessel without checking an O2 monitor first as a leak from a large tube of 4 or 5% would drop you like a stone.

I would like to thank Leigh G for putting the effort in to dig out the info

Berko

[Leigh G]

(Sigh) I am sorry that my post, which was simply meant to be informative, has offended some people and that they feel I was implying that they were stupid.
I was implying nothing of the sort.
What I WAS saying is that there is a lack of information.

I know about diving gases, what I DIDN'T know about was balloon gas. I was under the (incorrect) impression, along with other people, that balloon gas contained a minimum 16% of O2. I was surprised when someone mentioned that the balloon gas cylinder they were filling from contained 99% helium, which was what prompted me to look for the regulations I believed MUST exist and which to my surprise, apparently DO NOT.

You can buy poison from any DIY shop. It is CLEARLY LABELLED as such.

Should a potentially lethal substance, for example weed killer, be packaged as a childs toy and marketed with no warning, there would be a public outcry??!

At the moment, there does not appear to be any legislation covering this, hence the rapid growth of Helium as a popular suicide aid. It is painless, fast, readily available and invariably sourced as balloon gas.

I will continue to research this. Any information that comes to light, I will post. The spirit of any forum is information for an individual to use or not or simply ignore as they choose.

If my comments have offended anyone, I unreservedly appologise.

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by Leigh G

If my comments have offended anyone, I unreservedly appologise.

Nevermind the apologies Leigh... you're feeding important info into this site - carry on!

Berko

[fishyheid]

Well said AB, excellent stuff Leigh. It is the last time I will inhale the He from ALL the balloons at a dinner for a drunken laugh!

[Kevin Heath]

Well said Leigh, I , along with a few others on here can see just how important this message is !!!! I hope that the gas companies come bag with the info you need.

[Sky]

I was working in Boston a few years ago and I was told that it is a federal offence to inhale Helium from balloons in Massachusetts
I don't know what the laws are in other States

[ak101]

Originally Posted by Sky

I was working in Boston a few years ago and I was told that it is a federal offence to inhale Helium from balloons in Massachusetts
I don't know what the laws are in other States

Federal offences are criminal under US Government legislation. If it were illegal in Massachusetts only, surely this would be a state offence.

Sorry for being pedantic .

[dry suit diver]

well to prove a point I bought a helium ballon for the nipper yesterday, on the back in a box with a load of other guff, OK its rather small print it does say on it DO NOT BREATHE CONTENTS.


my point ias that if you legislate or regulate the balloons then along the process of regulation things will change and the regs that you wanted at the beginning are nothing like you set out to create. the governemnt never cocks things like this up do they, PART P of the building regs didn't start out as what it is now, but too many do gooders interfered and it is now a very restrictive set of regs.

[dragonlid]

I hope i didn't imply that Leigh G was stupid , or anyone else here that was not my point, i just think that there is enough legislation in our gas industries as there is and i can see a future where some legislation will be forced down to us, for example testing, certifying, recording and logging of all our air fills, this will cause all sorts of new rules etc being shoved down our throats. This is a brilliant discussion as it will raise awareness (all be it to a limited audience ) of the hazzards of gas abuse.