NOXIOUS!
Posted on 04/23/2010 8:41:52 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
In a ruling of first impression, a Criminal Court judge in Manhattan has found helium to be a "noxious material."
Based on that finding, Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. has allowed the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to proceed with the prosecution of three men arrested for selling helium balloons outside of Madison Square Garden during a Phish rock concert.
The men were charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
The arresting officer reported seeing "unapprehended individuals" inhaling helium from the balloons.
Although "nothing makes a little kid smile more than being handed a balloon," Judge Sciarrino wrote, helium, if inhaled excessively, can generate "noxious or suffocating fumes" that "can immobilize a person."
Helium balloons are commonly used at social, business and political events ranging from children's birthday parties to celebrations of initial public offerings in front of the New York Stock Exchange. The ruling left open the extent to which event planners and balloon purveyors could be open to prosecution when others abuse their decorations.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department said patrolmen are given "no special instruction" for making arrests involving the sale or possession of helium balloons. The Manhattan district attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Ellen Forman, the owner of Balloons to Go, said that "if some idiot inhales helium because he thinks he is being cute, it should not be on me."
While inhaling helium can be dangerous for someone with a health condition like asthma, Ms. Forman said that "helium is not poisonous and does not create a high. It just makes your voice squeaky."
Ms. Forman reported selling 21,000 helium balloons to decorate restaurants last New Year's Eve.
The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse has issued an advisory about the use of inhalants that can produce "mood altering" effects when inhaled excessively. While the advisory listed more than a dozen common household products such as glue, spray paint, deodorants and felt tip markers, there is no reference to helium.
Steven J. Pasierb, the president of Partnership for a Drug Free America, however, cautioned that any gas that is "huffed" can be dangerous because it deprives the body of oxygen. Lack of oxygen is what "makes the head spin and creates a dizzy, fuzzy sensation," he added.
Spokespeople for the city and state health departments and the city Department of Consumer Affairs report that their agencies have not issued advisories about helium or sought to regulate its use.
Words fail me.
Nitrous oxide balloons? I thought helium just made you talk funny.
The judge is more noxious...
Slightly off topic, but what exactly does it do to your vocal cords?
Idiotic statement about the possible, maybe effects of inert gases.
Judge Sciarrino, my diaper needs changed next.
Idiot Judge needs to be re-aquainted with the periodic table of elements.
I’m sure that Obama is planning a massive tax increase on the balloon industry to fund health care even as we speak.
Technically, inhaling a lot of helium can alter your mood in the same way that inhaling any other non-toxic gas does, by reducing the amount of available oxygen to the brain. However, this effect can be duplicated without the gas using other methods. Helium being inert, it can’t affect you in any other way.
I wonder what effect this ruling could have on stores that sell scuba equipment, and that also provide tank refills, since diving requires a mixture of helium at certain depths. Could this ruling not also affect the operation of the various blimp companies, that regularly contract to provide aerial television coverage to sporting events, which also take place in the city? What about childrens’ party entertainers? Floral shops?
Judges obviously need more education than a law degree if they are to make appropriate decisions from the bench. They need to be educated in science, various areas of technology, and other non-sociological areas of study; if they lack such education, they need to refrain from ruling on things like this, as they patently do not understand them.
Nothing. Helium merely has different properties than air which affect its ability to transmit sound, which makes the voice sound more high-pitched when helium is around the cords.
News for the judge: helium is an inert gas. Kids will try anything, and imitate each other doing it, but this is total imbecility. If you were stuck in a room with pure helium you would die from lack of oxygen, but breathing squirts of helium from a balloon couldn’t possibly hurt anyone.
Although I’m sure that Obama’s Global Warming Czar will back him up on this.
Inhaling helium from balloons outside a Phish concert? No way. Far, far more likely it was nitrous, and the huffers, once caught, claimed it was helium.
I guess the judge was not a cracker.
Sounds like these balloon peddlers didn’t pay the “street tax” to operate outside Madison Square Garden.
It makes your voice sqeaky and can ruin your lungs can’t it?
I would suggest that they just need a little common sense instead.
It does nothing to your vocal chords. Because helium is a lighter gas, it has a lower pressure overall. It makes your voice higher, because sound travels through it differently. Presumably a gas heavier than our normal atmosphere would produce lower pitches, if you could get it out of your lungs.
Are they sure that the balloons outside the Phish concert were filled with helium? More likely it was nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
WTF ! Funny thing, a coupe of days ago, my son, I and another person were at the campus and we were taking decorative balloons and inhaling helium. My son enjoyed it greatly !
Seems like a lot of these libs/statists types are more like “killjoys”. They are the type of people that get mad if someone is enjoying themselves someplace. Also many of the stupid things they favor, the consequences is the reduction of the quality of life. An example is they push to ban paper sacks at the supermarket since it is killing trees and we get stuck with plastic bags which hardly hold anything and when put in the trunk and when you get home, you have to take the time, effort and frustration to put the items back in. Also these people get mad when you spend money on something that would be enjoyed like a motorcycle or is used to make life better.
That's an interesting theory. It might even be correct.
But that wasn't the basis for the judge's ruling. He said nothing about nitrous. He said that helium itself was a "noxious" material that could lead to the arrest of the person selling it.
NOXIOUS!
It’s not the Helium that changes your mood. It was the mass quantities of alcohol that made you hit the tank in the first place.
Helium is one of the ‘noble’ gasses, and now it’s ‘noxious’. Damn Jacobin judges.
What about Dutch Ovens?!
The article does not say, but I’ll speculate that the judge does not know the difference, or he was thinking that it really was nitrous.
Bizarre comment, though. CO2, now helium, what next? Argon?
Very doubtful it was helium. More likely nitrous oxide.
Otherwise known as ‘hippie crack’.
I thought helium just made you talk funny.
Well helium is chemically inert, so it doesn't really do anything itself to harm you.
BUT... if you keep inhaling so much that you don't get the oxygen that you need, then it's not much different than putting a plastic bag over your head.
So just taking a single breath from a balloon to make your voice sound funny shouldn't hurt anybody (unless they already have some kind of breathing disorder, of course). All you gotta do is make sure you breathe some normal air before you pass out.
The judge specifically ruled that helium was the substance at issue.
When I was in California, a company next to us was putting in a pipeline for pure Nitrogen between two of their buildings (not sure whether it was for liquid or gas, I’m guessing gas since it had no insulation on the line). While the line was still under construction, a number of our employees claimed they were feeling faint and had headaches that must be from a “leak” in the line! Since 78% (if I remember correctly) of the atmosphere is nitrogen, it was actually pretty funny.....
hh
Nothing, it's the density of the inert gas at atmospheric pressure that allows a faster vibration of the unchanged vocal cords.
Regardless of what the judge ruled - I’ve been to Phish concerts. Helium ain’t what they’re selling. They may have claimed it was helium when they got caught with balloons, but I can wholeheartedly assure you it wasn’t. A naieve officer probably wrote down on the report exactly what they told him.
Nitrous sellers make a fortune at those concerts. Sometimes getting $10 for one balloon of the stuff. In most states, it’s very illegal to sell or even possess.
I recall up until several years ago, nitrous was also sold in the parking lot of Philadelphia Eagles games. Pennsylvania was one state that had no laws on the books against selling nitrous. I believe that’s now changed.
You'll need to ban matches and lighters.
Geez, I wish people would learn to actually read the article. The judge said nothing about nitrous. He specifically stated helium was the substance at issue in the case:
a Criminal Court judge in Manhattan has found helium to be a "noxious material"....Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. has allowed the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to proceed with the prosecution of three men arrested for selling helium balloons....Judge Sciarrino wrote, helium, if inhaled excessively, can generate "noxious or suffocating fumes"
Even if true, that doesn't matter. The judge did not rule "I think it's nitrous so I'm upholding the charge." He specifically stated helium was a noxious material and allowed the case to go foward on that basis.
As a result, there is now a court ruling that, under New York State law helium is a noxious and, therefore, potentially illegal substance.
Nah. Merely a weapon of mass inflation ... Kinda like a mixture of the Fed, Congress, and the SEC.
(I like the “they were really selling nitrous oxide” theory - though that was NOT what these vendors were being arrested for!)
Nothing...difference in the weight of the gas causes the alteration of sound. No physiological changes in the cords.
Ain't that the truth.
When lawyers try to teach science.
Helium is one of the “noble gas family” which are called that because their valence electron shell is full.
Translation: Helium doesn’t react with anything.
Also since its lighter than Oxygen, it can’t displace it and cause suffication.
Gosh..why don’t they outlaw nitrogen?
“Judges obviously need more education”
I think we should bring back the stocks. A large dose of public ridicule is called for.
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