Modern homes contain marvelous things that could not even have been imagined only a few decades past. The benefits of modern technology are numerous and allow for individuals and families to not only perform certain actions with ease, but also pursue any number of things never before dreamed of in a home. With increased technology also comes added responsibilities towards making sure a home is equipped with necessary safety devices that could trigger an unsafe intrusion or environment. In the past, the cause of fires in a home were always due to open flames. Either from candles or fireplaces, open fire was the only source of light, heat, and energy. If a fire were to start, the cause could always be reduced to one of these things. As technology increased and electricity became commonplace in homes around the world, the chances of, and places from where, a fire could start also grew. Homes maintained their own sources of energy, which also meant that all the possible dangers that stem from this came with it. Laws began to dictate that each home, and eventually nearly each room, required a fire detection device to help ward off the inherent dangers presented by a fire caused in a home. Similarly, increases in the amount of possible energy produced in a home began to grow. Leaks of poison gas from a stove or poison gas as a product of other energy production also began to require proper means of detection.

It is common place for an individual to warm their car up on a cold winter morning before embarking on the day. What they may not know, however, is that the car produces a poison gas called carbon monoxide. Unlike fire, which can be detected through use of various senses--it can be seen, smelt, felt, and even heard--carbon monoxide poison gas is utterly undetectable by a human. Termed the silent killer, carbon monoxide poisoning can cause death without someone even realizing what is occurring. Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs as a result of the poison gas actually replacing oxygen in your blood until the victim falls into a coma and invariably dies.

Although there are numerous substances and objects that can poison an individual, carbon monoxide poison gas is actually the leading cause of poison-related deaths in America. Somewhere around five hundred people die each year as a result, while some fifteen-thousand others require emergency medical services. The cause of carbon monoxide levels include far more occurrences than the burning of organic compounds. Some of the more common sources of this poison gas include exhaust from a motor vehicle, fumes from an engine, and the smoke caused from fire. More specific places where carbon monoxide is often emitted from are heaters that do not operate on electricity, charcoal grills, gas water heaters, space heaters using kerosene, propane-powered devices like grills and stoves, generators powered by gasoline or diesel fuels, cigarette smoke, tools that run-off gasoline, tractors, engine-powered boats, as well as a number of solvents, spray paints, and degreasers.

Anyone can be at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, specifically considering the number of possible causes. There are situations where additional concern should be considered. Since children have a much smaller lung capacity and contain less oxygen in their blood, there are most often seen to be at increased risk for carbon monoxide poisoning. Children have been to seen to suffer from this poisoning in a variety of ways without a parent even realizing. One such example that occurs more often than one would likely consider is due to a child that rides in the back of a pickup truck that has some type of enclosure. Other places that exhibit an added concern to individuals regarding carbon monoxide poisoning include; factory workers--especially those found in steel foundries, pulp mills, and place that produce formaldehyde, personnel or individuals that often work at or near fire scenes, people who work with engines or gases while indoors, someone swimming under or near an engine-powered boat, people on a boat that has improper ventilation, and various other places known for the possibility of acute carbon monoxide build-up.

Some of the symptoms related to carbon monoxide poisoning exhibit themselves to late as death already occurs. Early carbon monoxide poisoning will often cause headaches, fatigue, dizziness, labored breathing, lack of judgement, pains in the chest and abdomen, changes in vision, extreme drowsiness, problems walking, hallucinations, and nausea. In many cases where carbon monoxide poisoning is determined, victims had complained about flu-like symptoms. If a person that suffers from carbon monoxide poisoning seeks medical attention, these symptoms do not automatically denote the actual problem. Although a doctor may consider the possibility of carbon monoxide In cases where there is slow build of carbon monoxide, poisoning can cause brain damage and then death if it remains undetected. Since the poison gas is undetectable to both sight and smell, other means of detection are crucial. While fire detectors are among the most commonly found items in a home, many people may fail to consider the dangers presented by carbon monoxide poisoning. Fortunately, homes that have carbon monoxide detectors are steadily increasing as more people are made aware of the real dangers presented by the poison gas. Carbon monoxide detectors are often fairly small devices that can simply be plugged into any electrical outlet. These detectors actively scan the air for the presence of carbon monoxide and trigger a warning when levels begin to approach the danger zone. Just like practicing fire safety in the home, families need to inform all members to the potential dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. To be safe, families should have random practice scenarios where someone will press the test button on the device and everyone safely exits the home and meets at a predetermined location. The only way that a carbon monoxide detector will be sure to save your family’s life is to have everyone well aware of the response. If only one person is home at any given time, and happens to not be aware of even the noise of the carbon monoxide detector, they may not even realize they are slowly succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. If anytime the carbon monoxide detector is to go off, signaling unsafe amount of the poison gas, immediately gather the family and exit the house. There is not even a second to waste on gathering personal items as acute carbon monoxide poisoning can cause someone to fall into a coma and die. Once exited, everyone should already know the established meeting place, and at that time emergency services should be promptly contacted. Often times firefighters will enter the home and attempt to determine the source of the unsafe levels of carbon monoxide and also see if the problem is isolated to your home, or possibly indicative of a larger worry. Until they give you the expressed instructions that is now safe to enter your home, do not at any point attempt to get back in or carbon monoxide poisoning will be the likely result.

Carbon monoxide poisoning has also received a high level of attention due to its use in suicide. The presence of carbon monoxide in cases of suspected suicides has likely decreased in recent years due to enhancements in several different areas that once aided incomplete combustion, and as such, the subsequent release of high levels of carbon monoxide. Different areas have reported various increases in suicide committed by means of carbon monoxide poisoning. In Britain, for example, over half of all reported suicides were linked to carbon monoxide poisoning. The main reason for this stemmed from their usage of coal as their central means of domestic gas production. Since coal emits an extremely high amount of carbon monoxide, the purposeful inhalation of these fumes would result in a simple means of suicide. Once the usage of coal was scaled back and ultimately phased out, not only did the amount of suicides from carbon monoxide decrease, so did the total amount of reported suicides. Quite similarly in the United States, suicide by inhalation of carbon monoxide was prevalent before the wide-scale implementation of catalytic converters. Prior to this, the amount of carbon monoxide was much higher in car engine fumes, making it a relatively simple and painless means of suicide. Newer cars make this much more difficult, as the individual may very well likely choke on the various other fumes created by gasoline combustion making it too unbearable too stand long enough for the carbon monoxide to rise to high enough levels. Still, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning when a car is left idle in a confined area is still reported regularly. Another reason for suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning to gain media attention was due to its use by Jack Kevorkian. Once his medical license was revoked, Dr. Kevorkian--made famous for his role in assisted suicide--created a machine called the Mercitron. This was made up of little more than a mask and carbon monoxide tank that would be rigged up to a patient. Once ready, they would pull a lever of some kind and the gas would be administered at a toxic dose, causing death with little to no pain after just a couple of minutes.