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The drunken blackout gives way to the drunken Wite-Out.
When caught, drunk drivers will do all kinds of things to hide their
intoxicated state. They'll eat handfuls of mints, gargle with after-shave,
smoke clove cigarettes. But the man in this news report tried to hide his
beer breath by doing the dumbest thing ever. While waiting to be booked
into jail, he secretly grabbed a bottle of Wite-Out correction fluid and
drank it down.
He drank Wite-Out to hide the alcohol on his breath, but he could not hide
the white on his hands and mouth. The officer confronted the white-daubed,
drunk detainee. Whatever story he invented did not fly, as the security
camera had caught the whole inane episode.
Oh, and the result of his "cover-up"? The lab reported that his blood
alcohol level was 3.5 times the .08 limit.
David goes on to explain, "The active ingredient in correction fluid is an
organic solvent, usually trichloroethylene. Teenagers have died from
huffing this stuff, much less drinking it. But our hero survived his
encounter, so the best he can get is an At-Risk Survivor."
Reference: ketv.com
MEDIA REFERENCES
HOWEVER, Ms. Darwin observes that Wite-Out is advertised as a "water
based correction fluid." An abstract from a 1984 Medical Journal (1) does
cite correction fluid as an abused substance--but one tends to presume that
Wite-out has improved its formulation in the past two decades.
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What Readers Think:
Is Correction Fluid Toxic?
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1984 was 24 years ago!! Since then, it has been determined that many of the chlorinated solvents are "suspect carcinogens", and their use has been greatly curtailed as substitutes were found, especially in "general public" usages such as correction fluids. The correction fluids have been water-based since the early- to mid-nineties. And for that matter, the use of typewriters (and correction fluids!) has been almost completely replaced by computers and printers. I doubt if correction fluids of any type are readily available to the general public anymore...
Lou Gendernalik - Wednesday, September 10 at 09:37:44 PDT
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Dear Darwin Awards friends, things may be so in the US and other developed countries, but correction fluids are still readily available here in Brazil, and some of them still are not water-based, using some rather suspect solvents.
Sizenando Silveira Alves - Wednesday, September 10 at 18:52:38 PDT
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The bottle of whiteout that I have sitting in front me, that I bought less than two months ago, has a warning on it: "WARNING: Intentional misuse by deliberately concentrating and inhaling contents can be harmful or fatal."
At Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correction_fluid
In part, it states: "Thinners currently used with correction fluid include bromopropane.[citation needed]
To avoid the inconveniences of organic solvents (safety and availability), some brands of fluid are water-soluble. However, those have the disadvantages of a longer drying time, and incompatibility with some inks (which will soak through them)."
Even in the US, then, it is possible to legally purchase whiteout with organic solvents, as well as the water-based ones. Considering the disadvantages inherent in water-soluble whiteouts, and the often frenetic pace police officers must often work at, it is likely that the drunk in question consumed a non-water-based whiteout?
Does anyone know what would have happened, chemically, once the whiteout hit the ethanol in the guys system?
Candi - Wednesday, September 10 at 23:55:48 PDT
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Ethanol and trichloroethylene? Not much. They would mix readily. The liver might have a few questions on what it was supposed to do with correction fluid, though. 'Liquid Paper' brand correction fluid is based on 1-1-1-trichloroethylene (also a dry cleaning fluid) and is readily available in Australia.
Nadir - Monday, September 15 at 11:03:31 PDT
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One other thing, does anyone realize he did this in a police station? You must remember that the police station, being a government entity, has the cheapest things available, including the Correction Fluid in question. That being said, it is entirely possible that it was not a brand name Fluid, but some cut-rate, bulk bought garbage that the gentleman quaffed. Which makes it entirely possible that it used an alcohol-based (cheap) solvent instead of water-based (expensive). Yes, trichloroethylene is a chloronated alcohol.
Charlie - Tuesday, September 16 at 10:42:08 PDT
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Trichloroethylene is not a chlorinated alcohol. It is a chlorinated hydrocarbon. The Oral rat LD50: 5650 mg/kg. That means the lethal dose is around 5-6 grams per kilogram body weight. That would be about 1.5 cups of trichloroethylene for a 170 lb man.
It is *suspected* to be a carcinogen. Chances are he'll kill himself by accident or liver disease long before the Wite-out gives him cancer. Hope he doesn't take anyone with him.
Thuff - Wednesday, October 01 at 21:14:02 PDT
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The real problem is for the doctors in a few weeks' time - is his subsequent hepatitis due to trichloroethylene or alcohol??
dr davida miller - Saturday, October 04 at 01:27:04 PDT
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My gram pappy deserves a darwin award. He was buck hunting with an grenade launcher. He trapped a coon and shot at the tree. The tree fell on top of him. He was trapped under the tree for 6 hours untill he was eaten by a pack of turkeys
Aaron Seybold Buckhunter24 - Friday, October 10 at 06:46:02 PDT
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(1) A new form of substance abuse in adolescents is the inhalation
of fumes from typewriter correction fluids (Liquid Paper, Wite-Out,
Snopake, etc), which are composed of various chlorinated solvents,
/including tetrachloroethylene/, to induce euphoria. Medical complications
of such abuse and medical management of acute toxic episodes are discussed
herein, along with suggestions for controlling this substance abuse. [Greer
JE; South Med J 77 (3): 297-8 (1984)]**PEER REVIEWED**
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