Say you have twenty people crammed in an elevator whose ventilation system is not functioning. All twenty people all fart simultaneously, filling the air with the putrid stench. Could the build up of various gasses that would be in the room be sufficient to cause bodily harm to people breathing in the noxious fumes? As in, would it harm them more than suffocation/lack of oxygen would?
I’m positive that i read a story where this happened a few years ago. I believe it was in the Darwin Awards. A particularly gassy man was apparently sleeping in a very small room with poor ventilation, and died of “Methane Poisoning” from his own farts.
I believe this is related:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/economic/antislav.htm
In the link above, it says that the stench of a slave ship could be smelt from up to 10 miles away :eek:
However, other websites state that the slaves didn’t die from the stench, but rather from diseases like dysenteria and smallpox.
[slight hijack]
On a related note, do farts carry bacteria from the bowels out into the world, Assuming you’re bare-ass naked of course. Would these bacteria then potentially multiply etc and cause illnesses?
[/slight hijack]
That myth is addressed by Snopes.
I’m pretty sure I read a thread once in which Qadgop said “yes indeedy”.
**
The stench of many farts may not kill you but you could well wish it had!**
This line is so much funnier if read aloud in your best pirate voice!
Snopes kinda dropped the ball here. Probably no one ever died from farts (yet), but a gas doesn’t have to be poisonous to kill people. It only has to displace oxygen. Nitrogen is perfectly nontoxic–78% of the air we breathe is made up of it, after all. But if you get enough of a concentration where it pushes out the oxygen, then you’ll pass out and eventually die.
Snopes dropping the ball! No, if anyone did it was me. 
I was trying not to quote the entire article, as I understand that is frowned upon. Anyway, a further snippet from said article:
OAOW: On a related note, do farts carry bacteria from the bowels out into the world, Assuming you’re bare-ass naked of course.
Well, smells are molecules, not cells, right? So just because you smell an odor doesn’t mean that you’re in contact with any of the bacteria where it’s coming from. However, it would make sense that intestinal gases would expel a bit of bacteria-ridden fecal matter along with the stinky air.
So, my guess would be that if you can only smell the fart, it’s likely not a health hazard, but if you can feel it, it might be. Eeew, gross. Why on earth did I join this conversation?
I don’t know the answer to the OP but I can say that an extensive program of experimentation has been underway for some time here at my office.
I work where we test vehicles in an enclosed space. There is a toxic gas decection system in place. One day a tech actually was able to it set off by aiming directly into the sensor.
Then the safety dept had to come down to re-set the system, made for an amusing incident report.
I can see this being the basis for a whole new line of electronic underwear.
Charcoal / electronics. Same thing.
Just be sure that you don’t light a match!
My recollection is that Qadgop said that when he was a student it was a standard amusing experiment to fart directly (not through clothes) onto an agar plate and develop it. Much E. Coli resulting.
In this thread, many things seem to have been attributed to me which I do not recall ever stating.
Farting on culture plates is something I never contemplated. Nor did I wish to.
Farts passing thru clothes and carrying bacteria into the air makes sense, but I do not believe this would cause significant disease.
I knew there was a reason I seldom did vanity searches anymore. It was finding myself associated with flatus so often that put me off of it.
Just wanted to add the first time I read this I tougth i said cavity searches.
I thouth it said, not I thought I said.