Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The acute inhalation toxicity to rats and guinea pigs of carbon monoxide as a pure gas, or as evolved during the controlled burning of two different plywoods has been measured. There were significant, though very slight, differences. The slightly greater toxicity with the plywood exposures was probably due to changes in the respiratory minute volumeproduced by the irritants in the wood pyrolysis products, although this is unproven.