Unsuccessful suicide by carbon monoxide: a secondary benefit of emissions control

Emission systems and devices are required on automobile engines to reduce air pollution problems. Catalytic converters have been used on most 1975 and newer automobiles to reduce hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions to a value that meets the Environmental Protection Agency requirements established for 1975 and 1976. The 1980-1981 Boise, Idaho, study shows that with a functioning catalytic converter either unmeasurable or sublethal quantities of CO appear in automobile exhaust. Thus, emissions control has produced a secondary benefit in reducing the number of suicides by CO poisoning from automobile exhaust fumes.