Sleeping Gas

[ethandron]

I've just been reading an article about the British couple who have been shot and killed in their home in Spain. Part of the article talks about a spate of breakins a while ago, in and around the area, thought to have been done by gangs using sleeping gas to render their victims unconscious. Some Motorhomes and caravanners also reckon they've been gassed and robbed in a similar manner. No one has ever had a gas mask clamped over their face, the gas is apparently just squirted in to the room.
Where would gangs get sleeping gas from?
How would they know how much to use?
Why has no one, as far as I'm aware, died from being gassed?
An expert on another forum I belong to has debunked this 'myth' and reckons it is just that, a myth.
What do you think? Are there any anaesthetists on here who could give their opinion?

[hc4361]

I understood it to be calor gas they used.

[Peter Pedant]

This is an urban myth

the 'gas' used was said to be halothane
The Royal College of Anaesthetists was asked to comment ( comment: it is rubbish ) they even identified the origin. The story gets up and runs every few years as urban myths tend to do

and after a year or so the council voted to have it taken off their web site as it offended so many professors of anaesthesia who were also elected councillors ( infra dig - not intellectual enough )

Halothan does exist - (CF3 CHClBr I think - and is NOT a cause of global warming by the way just in passing) but cannot be used in this way

The mOscow thingey ( opera where they DID gas 100 people of which around 50 died was NOT halothane but a long acting opiate. Those with chemistry o level will know you cant vapourise a morphine compound but you CAN make it into a mist. That DID anaesthetise them - permanently as their airways werent maintained. They were piled into buses ( yes really ) and arrived at Moscow General, generally dead. But THAT as they say was a different story

technical answer to a technical question
I know it risks an overload of " whaaaaaaa?"
with the posts running away to infinity .....
sozza.

The current ones ( the diver and his wife ) died from holes in their heads and not halothane

[Peter Pedant]

bit of it here

including its in the Daily Mail so it must be true....

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=574578

[ethandron]

I have long believed it to be an urban myth, especially having read articles about it from the royal college of anaesthetists.
However, those who do believe it to be true, and who believe it has happened to themselves (we know two couples who reckon theyve been gassed)simply dont believe the scientific proof.
Yes Peter, I do realise the couple I mentioned were shot not gassed...

[hc4361]

But the Foreign Office has also reported it

The Foreign Office's advice on crime in France now states: "There is also a continuing problem of burglaries taking place during the night whilst travellers have been asleep in their caravans, mobile homes or other vehicles.
"Thefts have occurred in rest areas on the A25 (Dunkirk to Lille) and A16 (Calais-Dunkirk) motorways. In some cases, victims had first been rendered unconscious by the thieves using gas. Try to avoid parking in isolated or dark areas of camping grounds or car parks, and consider installing an alarm in your caravan or mobile home."

[ethandron]

The foreign office say..in 'some' cases....I reckon they're just covering their backs. ALL the rest areas in France are magnets for unsuspecting and rather naive caravanners or motorhomers who decide to overnight on them, to get robbed.
I find it interesting that there's never been anything proved about these 'gassings'...

[Peter Pedant]

well if the FO AND the daily mail has reported it
then it has to be true

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Is it the same gas they use in the House of Lords?