# Did college girls suffocate themselves baking cookies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667 "2009-12-02T04:04:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/21 "2009-12-02T17:48:38Z")
If I’d actually heard of a real-life case of some coeds dead in a dorm kitchen under the circumstances described, my first reaction would be something like JJM’s: I would speculate that they didn’t die of PAM inhalation, but that rather they died of letting the pilot on their gas stove blow out (or something similar). ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/22 "2009-12-02T17:49:39Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I don’t think it would be possible to form a fog of PAM under these circumstances, and I doubt any normal, non-suicidal, \*\*smart-enough-to-be-in-college \*\*group of women would persist making cookies after a PAM fog formed.. Bolding mine. While I agree with the rest of your post, I’d say the bolded part, if anything, is a contributing factor that increases the likelyhood of the incident. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/23 "2009-12-02T17:52:26Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > plz send me teh coeds [cat voice] I can has “sloppy-Jo Lynn” covered co-eds? [/voice] * * * :dubious: Um, there isn’t anyone on this board named “Jo Lynn” is there? If so, no offense intended. * * * ETA: and my post also ties in with # 12 from billfish678 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/24 "2009-12-02T18:04:39Z")
I think I heard about this. They were Pie Phis, right? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/25 "2009-12-02T18:05:15Z")
I heard a similar story but much older - the women (“girls” in this version) were making fudge over the gas lamps, and had turned them all up to the highest level. This, combined with the closed windows and lack of ventilation (the heat was by radiator) had the effect of slowly using up all the oxygen in the room. The women got more and more giggley (sp?) until they finally collapsed on the floor, realizing their jeopardy only after the first couple had expired. The headline supposedly said “Students Die Laughing.” ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/26 "2009-12-02T18:15:19Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Pam Fogg… I miss that girl. At least she didn’t slip your memory. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/27 "2009-12-02T18:35:09Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > …PAM is pretty wet and heavy… That’s not how I remember her. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/28 "2009-12-02T19:00:38Z")
Only slightly related anecdote: Actor James Woods once described refusing to work on a movie set that was using a fog machine. The gadget works by atomizing mineral oil. Woods once had ambitions to be a surgeon (he dropped that dream when he damaged tendons in his hands), so he read a lot of medical stuff. He told the production company that the fog was unhealthy and could cause lipoid pneumonia. He made them switch to old-fashioned dry-ice fogmaking. ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/29 "2009-12-02T19:07:03Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > plz send me teh coeds > [@billfish678](#): > > Trst me, yre btter eff wid da chzz brgr All your coeds are belong to us! Somebody set up us teh chzz brgr but I eated it. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/30 "2009-12-02T19:54:44Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > Only slightly related anecdote: Actor James Woods once described refusing to work on a movie set that was using a fog machine. The gadget works by atomizing mineral oil. Woods once had ambitions to be a surgeon (he dropped that dream when he damaged tendons in his hands), so he read a lot of medical stuff. He told the production company that the fog was unhealthy and could cause lipoid pneumonia. He made them switch to old-fashioned dry-ice fogmaking. That oil fog is pretty darn nasty I’'ll have to say, even IF it isnt a medical danger. Dry ice fog not nearly so much. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/31 "2009-12-02T20:06:20Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > It’s worth mentioning that, if this UL started long enough ago, the **constituents** of Pam cooking spray would have been considerably nastier than they are today. Real CFCs and probably silicone or something. And some kind of solvent. I remember the stuff didn’t smell nice. CFCs wouldn’t present any health risks for being inhaled - until recently, every asthma inhaler used CFCs as a propellant. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/32 "2009-12-02T21:03:21Z")
CFCs are non-toxic. That’s why they were such an industrial boon - very useful and very safe. It was only after discovering the effect on the ozone layer that they were banned. It wasn’t a direct health effect, but an environmental effect that was the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/33 "2009-12-02T23:03:51Z")
Betty Co-ed has lips of red for Harvard Betty Co-ed has eyes of Yale’s deep blue Betty Co-ed’s a golden head for Amherst, Her dress, I guess, is black for old Purdue . . . ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/34 "2009-12-02T23:16:11Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I don’t think it would be possible to form a fog of PAM under these circumstances, and I doubt any normal, non-suicidal, smart-enough-to-be-in-college group of women would persist making cookies after a PAM fog formed. > > - How many cookie sheets can they spray? 2-3 per cooking cycle? And there would be 20 minutes between cookie trays, during which the small amount of aerosol from each spraying each sheet would rapidly precipitate and land. > - Dorm kitchens may have the windows closed, but any normal person would notice the fog and open a door. There is usually good air circulation in dorms regardless. > - Long before this became a medical emergency, they would be coughing and leaving the kitchen. > - The smoke detectors would go off. > > I’ll see if I can find any Pubmed citation regarding cooking spray and lung disease. Cookies are more like 10 minutes average cooking time., and about 4 sheets per batch. Anyhow wouldn’t there have been an explosion if enough oil and flour is in the air to suffocate them. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/35 "2009-12-03T02:17:45Z")
Just don’t tell me their menstrual cycles were in synch… ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667/36 "2009-12-03T06:18:39Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > PAM is pretty wet and heavy. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That’s not how I remember her. I saw her in the pool, she’s attractive but has gained some weight. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stick around.😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-girls-suffocate-themselves-baking-cookies/519667.md?page=1)