Deodorant sniffing deadly

Press, 20 December 1978, Page 2

Deodorant sniffing deadly

PA Wellington Health authorities fear that publicity about the death of a Gisborne girl who sniffed deodorant spray may start a spate of similar deaths. But the girl’s bereaved parents want the incident given wide publicity so that other young people do not die in the same way. Their daughter, Sandra Donnelly, aged 16, sprayed the deodorant into a plastic bag and then sniffed if for “kicks.” After her funeral on Monday her parents told the NZPA that she had sniffed the spray “for a lark” after wrapping her Christmas presents last Thursday. Within seconds she stopped breathing and turned blue in the face. A doctor was called but all attempts to revive her failed.

Mr Donnelly said that his daughter died within seven minutes of the inhalation.

“Deodorant has such a nice smell that kids think it is harmless,” he said. “They know that if they take an overdose of drugs they are inviting death, but they do not know that this deodorant sniffing can kill.

“As parents we would like to ensure that no others are left unaware of the danger,” said Mr Donnelly. The Health Department’s chief toxicologist, Mr M. Bates, said yesterday that as far as he knew it was the first aerosol death in New Zealand.

“But with the publicity this could just be the start,” he said.

However, there had been a few deaths resulting from the sniffing of petrol and other solvents. Aerosol propellants had the same effect.