Greg Ganske: “that report succinctly addresses the health risks associated with ethanol inhalation, and I would like to read a couple…”

“that report succinctly addresses the health risks associated with ethanol inhalation, and I would like to read a couple of excerpts from the report. The occupational standards for ethanol in air is 1,000 parts per million on an 8-hour basis. No symptoms at levels below 1,000 parts per million are reported. At this or higher concentrations, ethanol vapor may cause eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, fatigue, headache or sleepiness. But then it goes on to say, Data strongly suggests that exposure to the general public to ethanol vapors coming from oxygenated gasoline is very unlikely to have any adverse consequences. Ethanol vapors only affect the health of an individual if the blood ethanol content reaches a level associated with intoxication. Most definitions of legal intoxication are about 80 milligrams per decaliter. In order for that to occur, the inhalation rate of ethanol vapors would have to exceed the rate at which the body eliminates ethanol from the blood stream. Conservative estimates place that elimination rate at 83 milligrams per kilogram per hour. Tests show that within the occupational standard ethanol concentration level of 1.9 milligrams per liter, a person could engage in heavy activity with a ventilation rate of 50 liters per minute and still only intake vapors at a rate of 45 milligrams per kilogram per hour, far below the rate of blood metabolism.”