# Can smells kill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485 "2003-04-27T13:17:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@grettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grettle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/1 "2003-04-27T13:17:48Z")
I swear that I read a Cecil column on this subject, but I searched the archives 3 times with no results. Maybe I am confusing it with the “Can loud sounds kill” column. . . Also, I searched the boards for the past 3 years and didn’t turn up anything. So, can they? Can smelling something really awful cause you not to breathe anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/2 "2003-04-27T13:49:55Z")
IANA MD. But I don’t think smell can kill you. However, the foul smell can be an indicator of something toxic, and the toxicity might kill you. Or it might displace the local available oxygen, in which case you would suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/3 "2003-04-27T17:08:13Z")
Sure. The smell of cyanide, for instance. I think the column you’re looking for may be the one about “How do they know what deadly gasses smell like?” I’d link it, but my computer’s lagging, so it’s all you ---
**Author:** ![Coilean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Coilean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coilean)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/4 "2003-04-27T17:09:52Z")
Cecil on [[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_107.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_107.html)]( Gloria Ramirez) ---
**Author:** ![Coilean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Coilean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coilean)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/5 "2003-04-27T17:11:58Z")
Cecil on [Gloria Ramirez](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_107.html) ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/6 "2003-04-28T00:44:06Z")
Took a WOMD class a few years ago, and the instructor walked up the aisle amongst 100 students, gently spraying a fine mist from a perfume bottle. Question: who smells that and is it nasty or pleasant? We all raised our hands in unison, and we all agreed that the smell was not offensive…not bad, actually. Instructor: You are all dead. Cyanide. ---
**Author:** ![StanDup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/7 "2003-04-28T00:47:59Z")
::whistles:: ---
**Author:** ![StanDup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/8 "2003-04-28T00:51:25Z")
I remember reading an article of a book, it said that natural gas has no smell, but they add a scent to it so people know when it leaks… I don’t really remember what the technique was called, I think it was stenching, or something with an -ing at the end. Maybe the natural gas with no smell added could kill, but that doesn’t really answer the OP… ---
**Author:** ![Payton\_s\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/9 "2003-04-28T01:17:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Topaz \* > \*\*I remember reading an article of a book, it said that natural gas has no smell, but they add a scent to it so people know when it leaks… I don’t really remember what the technique was called, I think it was stenching, or something with an -ing at the end. Maybe the natural gas with no smell added could kill, but that doesn’t really answer the OP… \*\* It isn’t that the natural gas by itself can kill, it’s that it is highly flammable, so the scent was added so no one would strike a match or cigarette lighter and thus set off a rather spectacular explosion. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/10 "2003-04-28T01:48:23Z")
How about [rotten egg gas](http://www.agius.com/hew/resource/h2s.htm)? > [@](#): > > Hydrogen Sulphide is a potent chemical asphyxiant, combining with haemoglobin and with cytochromes and thus rapidly stopping oxygen from access to cellular metabolism (just like gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide). Indeed H2S is arguably as toxic as Hydrogen Cyanide HCN. > > Hydrogen Sulphide is very foul smelling but very quickly paralyses the sense of smell, and can go on to overcome the victim and eventually cause death. Therefore smell cannot be relied upon to provide warnings of this treacherous gas. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/11 "2003-04-28T02:02:34Z")
Technically, no, a smell can’t kill you. A smell is the brain’s interpretation of the nerve signal sent from the olfactory organs in response to a chemical stimulant. The chemical _itself_ might be able to kill you, but not the smell of it. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/12 "2003-04-28T06:21:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Payton’s Servant \* > \*\*It isn’t that the natural gas by itself can kill, it’s that it is highly flammable, so the scent was added so no one would strike a match or cigarette lighter and thus set off a rather spectacular explosion. \*\* Haven’t people commited suicide by sticking their head in the oven and breathing the fumes? ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/13 "2003-04-28T06:55:45Z")
A _smell_, not the chemical that causes it, can overwhelm you. I have heard of research in trying to find the most awful smell possible to be used as a non-lethal weapon. The tiniest whiff of the stuff will easy cause extreme nausea, any more and you are likely to pass out. ---
**Author:** ![DrLiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DrLiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/14 "2003-04-28T07:14:05Z")
IANAsmell biologist but: Wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that something could be so foul smelling that it would induce all sorts of secretions (defense mecanisms, throwing up and such) that it _could_ block the respiratory track and end up killing you. Or that it would make you throw up until you die (I’m not sure if excessive throwing up can kill you but I guess it could (i.e. you still throw up but theres nothing left so you force it and break some blood vessel in the brain)) It’s not _exactly_ the smell that kills you, but that’s the only thing I can think of… ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/15 "2003-04-28T07:23:11Z")
**Muad’Dib** refers to [malodorants:](http://www.americanscientist.org/Issues/Sciobs02/sciobs0205smell.html) > [@](#): > > As for the least tolerable smells, the team’s research suggests that the smell of “organic decomposition”—rotting flesh and organic decay—is the most universally reviled. > > The research has recently attracted some controversy. In February, the Sunshine Project, an international organization devoted to building a global consensus against biological weapons, published a news release asserting that U.S. defense officials are developing nonlethal weapons—and malodorants, in particular—targeted at specific ethnicities. The release noted a “disturbing preoccupation with ethnicity” in documents related to projects sponsored by U.S. defense programs. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Peter\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/16 "2003-04-28T07:26:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boyo Jim \* > \*\*IANA MD. But I don’t think smell can kill you. However, the foul smell can be an indicator of something toxic, and the toxicity might kill you. Or it might displace the local available oxygen, in which case you would suffocate. \*\* Similar to it not being the fall that kills, but the sudden stop at he end? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/17 "2003-04-28T11:51:24Z")
The Gloria Ramirez story-didn’t they use that as a plot on _Law and Order_? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/18 "2003-04-28T12:32:05Z")
I knew a person in College who would faint upon a certain “smell”. Sometimes, it was something others could smell too, but other times…he would be the only person in the room who could smell it. He would faint right out cold sometimes, other times he would sorta collapse but be conscious, and have to be laid out on a bed or couch. Supposedly, this started when one day on campus, there was a horrible smell that was smelt that covered several buildings. It was an intense chemical smell, sorta like rotting garbage, but with an acrid chemical odor to it. It stayed for a few hours, and seemed to be centered on a single building (which, BTW, had no labs or other large sources of chemicals). Several students became ill and some passed out, but none were seriously injured. While treated for CO or other poisoning, no report ever determined what the toxin/smell was, or even how it made people sick. Eventually, the paper reported several doctors claiming it might be psychological, or “mass hysteria”, and you can guess how well _that_ went over on a University campus. There were actually protests by students who felt “offended” that someone thought they could be sucked into “mass hysteria”. Anyhow - about the guy I knew. The result of medical consulting with his doctor(s) was they wanted to do a brain scan, and he refused because his religious convictions (Southern Baptist) forbid brain scans. Or, at least that’s what his minister told him. Ultimately, the problem went away after a half year or so, but not before he was stuck with the moniker “the fainting goat”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/19 "2003-04-28T15:46:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Peanuthead \* > \*\*Haven’t people commited suicide by sticking their head in the oven and breathing the fumes? \*\* That was when domestic gas was coal gas, which was made in gasworks from, not surprisingly, coal. It was poisonous, and I think, smelly enough not to require the addition of a warning scent. Nowadays we use natural gas pumped straight from underground. It’s not poisonous, but, as has been stated, dangerously flammable. BTW do they still make coal gas anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485/20 "2003-04-28T16:11:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Odoreida \* > **That was when domestic gas was coal gas, which was made in gasworks from, not surprisingly, coal. It was poisonous, and I think, smelly enough not to require the addition of a warning scent. Nowadays we use natural gas pumped straight from underground. It’s not poisonous, but, as has been stated, dangerously flammable.** Plenty of people still commit suicide in natural gas and propane gas ovens. They rely on asphysiation. > [@](#): > > \*\*BTW do they still make coal gas anywhere? \*\* Yes, and there are still some working coal gas distribution systems in 2nd-world and 3rd-world countries too. In industrialized nations, coal gas or coal water gas is sometimes used in industrial processes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-smells-kill/171485.md?page=2)