ILLUSTRATES Rafael Sica
QUESTION Yasmin Lima, Florianopolis, SC
No one dies because of the stench itself. But many substances with an unpleasant odor can be fatal due to the biochemical reactions they cause in our body. This is the case with ammonia (NH3), chloroform (CHCl3) and carbon tetrachloride (CCI4). One of the most lethal (efodorous) is hydrogen sulfide (H2S), known commercially as hydrogen sulphide. In low concentration, it causes eye irritation, sore throat and pressure drop. On high, it blocks the airways and leads to death by suffocation. “It has a strong smell of rotten eggs, but, depending on the concentration, it anesthetizes the olfactory system and the victim is unable to smell it”, explains João Carlos Mucciacito, a chemist at the Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo. In 1950, an H2S leak in Poza Rica, Mexico, killed 22 workers and left 320 injured.
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