The toxicity of fire effluents from textiles and upholstery materials

The toxicities of the airborne combustion products of 11 textiles and 6 upholstery materials at medium temperatures (500-700 °C) were examined ac cording to the standard DIN 53436 using rats as experimental animals. Also the chemical composition of the combustion products was determined. According to the results obtained there were some cases in which one or more individual com ponents (mainly HCN and CO) of the airborne combustion products could be shown to be the main cause of toxicity