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Gas-sniffing explosion burns three in Kangirsuk

Three youth medevaced; two in treatment for burns

JANE GEORGE

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Kangirsuk's old police station is no more: a group of teenagers who were sniffing gas forgot that fire and gas are an explosive combination.

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A fire caused by careless gas-sniffing youths last Thursday in Kangirsuk resulted in burns for three teenagers and the total destruction of a transit building formerly used by the Kativik Regional Police Force.

According to police, two stole a gasoline can from a shack, and then headed off to the empty transit along with three other teens.

The group broke the door down by pushing it with their shoulders until the padlock broke. They then entered the building and spent about three hours in a bedroom, sniffing tissues soaked in gasoline.

Two other teens arrived later. Out of the group of seven, six apparently sniffed gas.

Police say the fire started because one teen played with a cigarette lighter near the gas can. The can exploded, and a fire started on a bed.

Three of the teens suffered burns that were severe enough to merit a medevac out to Kuujjuaq. Two of the three are being treated in Montreal for their burns.

This isn't the first explosion caused by sniffing in Nunavik. Two years ago, two boys were sniffing cooking-stove gas with four other boys in a wooden storage crate in Puvirnituq when an explosion occurred, burning two of them severely.

Sniffing explosions are not limited to Nunavik: in 1997, three young girls in Arctic Bay suffered burns to their hands and faces when propane they were sniffing from a barbecue tank exploded. The girls, along with another girl and an older boy, had been sniffing propane from the tank.

Sniffers generally inhale gas through the mouth or nose using either a gas-soaked tissue or cloth or fumes that come directly from a tank. This practice is also called "huffing."

The gas - like commonly-abused solvents such as glue, paint or hairspray - goes from the lungs to the bloodstream and then into the brain. There, it slows down brain activity and depresses the central nervous system, in a way that is similar to the way alcohol works.

Within seconds, sniffers feel euphoric, relaxed, dizzy, numb and light. They may also experience hallucinations, aggression, staggering, disorientation, slurred speech, coughing and vomiting.

The list of health problems caused by sniffing is enormous. That's because poisonous chemicals gradually damage the brain, the heart, the lungs, the immune system, the liver and kidneys. The longer someone sniffs, the worse damage is done to these organs.

Sniffing also leads to behaviour and social problems. A report on the sniffing epidemic among aboriginals in Australia says aboriginal youth believe they will die as a result of sniffing, but keep sniffing anyway.

The report says the reasons why youth have lost their will to live need to be addressed before the social devastation caused by gas sniffing can be helped.

"With the knowledge that sniffing is... an expression of power and control in an otherwise powerless situation, ameliorative action and policy decisions could be oriented to providing alternative sources of engagement in the political arena for young Aborigines," wrote Maggie Brady, of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal studies.

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