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)
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