No chance of carbon dioxide "poisoning" at Des Moines' Southridge Mall.

This is a news report having to do with carbon dioxide and perhaps premise owner liability.

The Carmike Theatres were having a matinee showing of Sex in the City2 when a valve on the soda mixing machine malfunctioned allowing a cloud of carbon dioxide vapor to escape. That resulted in the theatre being evacuated so the cloud could evaporate. Luckily no one was hurt.

There will certainly be an effect on those sale's receipts but that's perhaps a contract issue between the theatre and the soda supply company.

Don't confuse carbon dioxide with poisoning from carbon monoxide. The two are vastly different in the ability to kill.

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The YouTube link is acting funny today; if it doesn't work use this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lchtRTDsHSM

So here is today's legal principle. There are four parts to any lawsuit based on tort principles. A tort is a civil wrong for those of you who are asking, what's a tort? Those four parts all need to be present for there to be any legal liability. They are a duty, a breach of duty, damages and those damages must be proximately caused by the breach of the duty owed.

In this case recall there are no damages. That means there is no case. End of story.

I'm not sure why this was treated as such a big deal requiring evacuation. Carbon Dioxide is used in the food and beverage industry. It's also used to remove the caffeine from coffee.

This from Inspectapedia tells us more about the symptoms of "poisoning" from CO2.

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Basic Information about Concentrations of CO2 in Air

1,000,000 ppm of a gas = 100 % concentration of the gas, and 10,000 ppm of a gas in air = a 1% concentration.

At 1% concentration of carbon dioxide CO2 (10,000 parts per million or ppm) and under continuous exposure at that level, such as in an auditorium filled with occupants and poor fresh air ventilation, some occupants are likely to feel drowsy.

The concentration of carbon dioxide must be over about 2% (20,000 ppm) before most people are aware of its presence unless the odor of an associated material (auto exhaust or fermenting yeast, for instance) is present at lower concentrations.

Above 2%, carbon dioxide may cause a feeling of heaviness in the chest and/or more frequent and deeper respirations.

If exposure continues at that level for several hours, minimal "acidosis" (an acid condition of the blood) may occur but more frequently is absent.

Breathing rate doubles at 3% CO2 and is four times the normal rate at 5% CO2.

Toxic levels of carbon dioxide: at levels above 5%, concentration CO2 is directly toxic. [At lower levels we may be seeing effects of a reduction in the relative amount of oxygen rather than direct toxicity of CO2.]

Symptoms of high or prolonged exposure to carbon dioxide include headache, increased heart rate, dizziness, fatigue, rapid breathing, visual and hearing dysfunctions. Exposure to higher levels may cause unconsciousness or death within minutes of exposure.

Treatment is simply by breathing fresh air. I don't believe there was any chance of someone getting sick or feeling ill from the effects of carbon dioxide at the mall.

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For additional reading see the next linked article.

Is carbon dioxide poisonous? WikiAnswers