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Carbon Monoxide would be my choice out of the EPA’s 6 criteria pollutants which can affect the quality of your health and life. According to the (CDC, 2018), carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless gas that can make you sick or even kill you. Carbon monoxide is found in the fumes of any type of incomplete combustion. Examples of this would be when you burn fuel in vehicles, heaters, stoves, or even gas water heaters. Symptoms can range from headaches, nausea, confusion to flu like symptoms. If you are impaired or go to sleep when this gas is present, it could even kill you. One reason why CO is so dangerous is because it bonds to hemoglobin at the same site as oxygen. Hemoglobin prefers carbon monoxide to oxygen and bonds much tighter to the molecule than it does to oxygen (ScienceDirect, 2012).

            Many years ago, I received a carbon monoxide detector as a Christmas gift. I later had to move and ended up living in a trailer until we located a house to purchase. While living in the trailer I installed the carbon monoxide detector which had a digital display which usually showed a level of zero. One night while I was traveling on business, my family was at home when a large storm came through. Once the storm passed, everything seemed to be ok, so everyone went to bed. In a short period of time the carbon monoxide detector started alarming. My wife called 911 and got everyone out of the trailer. When the fire department arrived, they put on their SCBA’s and entered the house. Once in the house, they discovered the alarm was now reading around 300 ppm. After a thorough search, it was determined that a limb had fell on the trailer during the storm. The limb crushed the exhaust pipe to our gas water heater. I will always have a carbon monoxide detector in my home.

                                                                        Reference

CDC. (2018). Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. Retrieved from

ScienceDirect. (2012). Carbon Monoxide. Retrieved from