Tackling volatile substance abuse in Scotland
a training course for the social care workforce
Course content: Substance recognition
Warning signs
Highly Flammable and Irritant pictograms
Solvent Abuse Can Kill Instantly (SACKI) warnings are recommended by the industry forum on solvent abuse and relevant trade associations. On some products such as gas lighter refills an alternative warning may be used:
‘Deliberately inhaling highly flammable butane is extremely dangerous and can cause instant death’
Highly Flammable and Irritant pictograms may also be present on potentially abusable products.
Many products do not have specific VSA warnings, however there may be more general indications of the potential for abuse such as statements not to inhale the fumes or the use of flammable or irritant pictograms.
Fuel gases
There are a range of products that use gases to fuel flames:
- Butane gas lighter refills
Butane gas is the fuel used in most modern cigarette lighters, although some lighters use petrol refills.
Gas filled cigarette lighter refills account for more deaths than any other product, with a total of 25 out of 33 for gas fuels in 2004. Of those 25 deaths, 8 were under 18, the same number of deaths as the pre-legislative levels in 2001 and 2002.
In total there have been 861 deaths between 1971 and 2004 associated with gas lighter refills.1 Butane gas is also highly flammable.
Many of the deaths resulted after the product was sprayed directly into the mouth. The nozzle is made of plastic and you may see teeth marks in used cans. Potential product modifications include reducing the size of the can or adding bitrex, an unpalatable bitter-tasting substance as a deterrent to sniffing. - Cigarette lighters
These contain about 5ml of butane gas, compared to about 200ml in a refill. It would probably take several lighters to obtain any effect. They can be purchased very cheaply on markets; however the butane is still relatively expensive compared to refill canisters. For these reasons lighters are more likely to be used by those experimenting rather than long term users. - Bottled gas canisters
Bottled fuel gases, used for cooking, camping or heating, contain butane and/or propane. The gas also contains mercaptans, which give the product the characteristic gas smell. Mercaptans are added so that leaks are easily noticed; however it is unpleasant enough to deter some users.
Cutting the rubberised connection pipe provides simple access to the gas. - Natural gas
Probably not abusable. - Acetylene gas
There have been a few deaths, however acetylene is usually found in workplaces as it is used for welding, rather than in a domestic setting. - Effects
The small cans aim to limit the amount of gas available for misuse and have 25ml rather than 200ml. The average cigarette lighter contains 4-5ml of gas. Shell Gas is trying to include bitrex into butane gas, however there are some legal and technical problems to be overcome.
The Government is thinking of looking at reducing the capacity of butane gas fuel cans in a bid to cut the potential for volatile substance deaths Vernon Coaker, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, has confirmed.
Since 1971, butane gas lighter fuel has been associated with 38 percent of all 2152 volatile substances deaths in the UK and with 52 percent of the VS deaths recorded in the UK in 2004. Glenrothes Labour MP John MacDougall says that reducing the cans’ capacity would result in there not being enough lighter fuel to achieve a temporary high.
Mr MacDougall also suggested that test purchasing for illegal sales of cigarette lighter refills to under 18s should be increased.
VS Focus, issue 36, September 2006
- Ramsey, J. et al. (2006) Trends in Deaths Associated with Abuse by Volatile Substance 1971-2004 London: St George’s Hospital Medical School. ↩