Nitrogen asphyxiation
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2008-07-05T20:54:00Z
Good Olfactory
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Removed category "Capital punishment"; Quick-adding category "Execution methods" (using [[WP:HOTCAT|HotCat]])
{{capital punishment}}{{Original research|date=May 2008}}
{{For|the method of slaughtering farm animals|Controlled Atmosphere Killing}}
'''Nitrogen asphyxiation''' is an occasional cause of accidental death and a theoretical method of [[capital punishment]] advocated by [[Stuart A. Creque]] in a 1995 article in ''[[National Review]]'', "Killing with kindness – capital punishment by nitrogen asphyxiation." The painful experience of suffocation is not caused by lack of [[oxygen]] intake but rather because of a buildup of [[carbon dioxide]] in the bloodstream which is exhaled under normal circumstances.
When a human (or any other [[mammal]]) breathes in pure [[nitrogen]], they exhale carbon dioxide without resupplying oxygen. Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that comprises approximately 78 percent of the Earth's atmosphere. As such, the subject would detect no abnormal sensation. This leads to [[asphyxiation]] without the painful and traumatic feeling of suffocation. Therefore, it is viewed by some as a more humane way to end a human life in a controlled setting. As the principal component in air, nitrogen poses no significant risk upon discharge.
== Overview ==
There are substantial [[capital punishment debate|moral arguments]] against and in favor of [[capital punishment]] by any means.[http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245] Although execution by nitrogen [[asphyxia]]tion was discussed briefly in print more than 10 years ago (Creque 1995) and circulates in various online forums, it is not presently used by any nation. Switching to this procedure would require a change of law. Legislative debate on such a proposal could focus public attention and provide opponents a forum to argue for abolition (Seitz 2001).
In a televised documentary in 2007, the right-wing UK political commentator (and former [[ Member of the UK Parliament | Member_of_Parliament#United_Kingdom]]), [[Michael Portillo]] examined execution techniques in use around the world and found them unsatisfactory ; his conclusion was that [[nitrogen asphyxiation]] would be the least-worst method. If reintroduction of the death penalty were ever to return to the political agenda in the UK, this would be a significant contribution to the debate.
As [[breath]]ing is an absolute requirement for human life, no physical condition of a living subject can prevent the prompt completion of this procedure. Properly condemned individuals could be executed without physical trauma and without the arguably unethical use of medical skill, essentially by withdrawing [[life support]]. Some people experience [[claustrophobia]] when presented with an anesthetic gas mask before surgery, and some subjects might react similarly.
Execution by [[lethal injection]], in contrast, requires medical skill and has occasionally been prolonged when it was difficult to insert the injection needle into an open vein.[http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=478]
=== Accidental death ===
Accidental nitrogen asphyxiation causes about 8 deaths per year in the United States,[http://www.csb.gov/safety_publications/docs/SB-Nitrogen-6-11-03.pdf] which is asserted to be more than from any other industrial gas. For example in 1981, shortly before the launch of the [[STS-1|first Space Shuttle mission]], two technicians lost consciousness and died after they entered the Orbiter aft compartment which was pressurized with pure nitrogen as a precaution against fire.[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922499,00.html]
A laboratory assistant died in Scotland in 1999, apparently from asphyxiation, after [[liquid nitrogen]] spilled in a basement storage room.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/484813.stm]
Accidental asphyxiation from compression of the chest or abdomen, which prevents inhalation, has occurred in some [[positional asphyxia|police restraint positions]][http://www.charlydmiller.com/] and in crowding or [[stampede]] disasters.
In a vivid example of how quickly an oxygen deficient environment can kill due to hypoxia, four people died of hypoxia in a water testing shack in [[Kimberley, British Columbia|Kimberley, B.C.]] at the formerly operating [[Sullivan Mine]]. A contractor sampling water at the shack was found dead by his coworker days later, prompting him to call 911 before himself being incapacitated by hypoxia. The two paramedics who arrived on the site entered the small shack investigating the call, and later died of hypoxia themselves as a result. A report later found that the oxygen level in the room would only require the time of two inhalations before someone would lose consciousness from the lack of oxygen. The reason an oxygen deficient environment can kill so quickly is that when oxygen levels are low enough, the natural diffusion of oxygen in the alveoli reverses, causing the body to rapidly lose its own blood oxygen. The cause for why the otherwise functioning shack became oxygen deficient is still a mystery at this time.
Death by accidental [[hypoxia (medical)|hypoxia]] can occur in [[confined space]]s or [[cabin pressurization|depressurized aircraft]]. The passengers and crew of [[Helios_522|Helios Airways Flight 522]] were incapacitated by hypoxia leading to the flight crashing on the 14th of Aug 2005.
Some toxic gases, such as [[hydrogen cyanide]], do not interfere with metabolism directly, but prevent cells from aerobically producing ATP for energy and cause death by asphyxiation on a cellular level. [[carbon monoxide poisoning|Carbon monoxide]] binds to [[haemoglobin]], which reduces oxygen transportation in the blood stream and causes death by asphyxiation. Whether such deaths be classified as poisoning or asphyxiation is a debatable point.
=== Awareness of impending death ===
Every condemned individual is aware of impending death in general, as a result of court proceedings, transport to the execution site, and preparation of the execution equipment. At the shortest time scale, however, nitrogen asphyxiation provides little warning of the moment when final [[unconsciousness]] arrives.
== Physiology ==
A typical human [[breath]]es between 12 and 20 times per minute at a rate primarily influenced by [[carbon dioxide]] concentration, and thus [[pH]], in the [[blood]]. With each breath, a volume of about 0.6 liters is exchanged from an active [[lung volumes|lung volume]] (tidal volume + functional residual capacity) of about 3 liters. Normal [[air]] is about 78 percent [[nitrogen]], 21 percent [[oxygen]], and 1 percent [[argon]], carbon dioxide, and other gases. After just two or three breaths of nitrogen, the oxygen concentration in the lungs would be low enough for some oxygen already in the bloodstream to exchange back to the lungs and be eliminated by exhalation. Crude simulation of oxygen transport through the lungs and blood stream suggests that the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood would be about 50 percent of saturation 1 minute after switching gases and would reach zero within 3 minutes.
[[Unconsciousness]] in cases of accidental asphyxia can occur within 1 minute. Loss of consciousness results from critical hypoxia, when arterial oxygen saturation is less than 60% (Fisher n.d.). “At oxygen concentrations [in air] of 4 to 6%, there is loss of consciousness in 40 seconds and death within a few minutes” (DiMaio & DiMaio 2001:231). As this procedure provides an atmosphere completely devoid of oxygen, the sequence of effects should be expected to occur even more quickly. At an altitude greater than 43,000 ft (13,000 m), where the ambient oxygen concentration is equivalent to 3.6% at sea level, an average individual is able to perform flying duties efficiently for only 9 to 12 seconds without oxygen supplementation (Fisher n.d.). The US Air Force trains air crews to recognize their individual subjective signs of approaching hypoxia. Some individuals experience headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, or euphoria, but some become unconscious without warning (Fisher n.d.). Equivalent training is unlikely for a condemned individual, making unconsciousness without warning probable, although as much as a 30 second warning is possible.
Loss of consciousness may be accompanied by convulsions (Fisher n.d.) and is followed by [[cyanosis]] and [[cardiac arrest]]. About 7 minutes of oxygen deprivation causes [[death]] of the [[cerebral cortex]] and presumably the [[medulla oblongata]], which controls breathing and heart action.
== References ==
*{{cite news|last=Creque|first=SA |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v47/ai_17374449 |title=Killing with kindness – capital punishment by nitrogen asphyxiation|publisher=National Review|date=1995-10-11|accessdate=2007-01-24}}
*DiMaio V & DiMaio D. "[http://www.charlydmiller.com/LIB/forensicpathasphyxia.html Forensic Pathology, Second Edition. Chapter 8, Asphyxia]", ISBN 0-8493-0072-X 2001. Retrieved on [[2007-01-27]].
*Fisher PW. "[http://wwwsam.brooks.af.mil/af/files/fsguide/HTML/Chapter_02.html High altitude respiratory physiology, chapter 2 in USAF Flight Surgeon’s Guide]", n.d. Retrieved on [[2007-02-07]].
*Seitz KN. "[http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05012001-122101/ The Transition of Methods of Execution in North Carolina: A Descriptive Social History of Two Time Periods, 1935 and 1983]", PhD dissertation (Sociology) Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University, 2001. Retrieved on [[2007-01-23]].
*{{cite news |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245 |title=Methods of Execution|accessdate=2007-01-25}}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=478 |title=Some Examples of Post-Furman Botched Executions|accessdate=2007-01-25}}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.csb.gov/safety_publications/docs/SB-Nitrogen-6-11-03.pdf |title=Hazards of Nitrogen Asphyxiation
|publisher=U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board |date=2003-06-11|accessdate=2007-02-15}}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922499,00.html |title=Shuttle Tragedy|publisher=Time |date=1981-03-31|accessdate=2007-01-27}}
*{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/484813.stm|title=UK: Scotland Inquiry after man dies in chemical leak|publisher=BBC|date=1999-10-25|accessdate=2007-01-27}}
==Related links==
*[[Air hunger]]
*[[Asphyxiant gas]]
*[[Capital punishment]]
*[[Capital punishment debate]]
*[[Positional asphyxia]]
==External links==
* [http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/factsheets/respfact.html NIOSH respirator fact sheet]
* [http://www.csb.gov/ U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board]
* [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org Death Penalty Information Center]
* [http://www.charlydmiller.com/ Restraint asphyxia]
[[Category:Causes of death]]
[[Category:Execution methods]]