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Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 09:10:28 -0700 (PDT) From: "Peter N.R. Heseltine" <heseltin@hs*.us*.ed*> Reply-To: "Peter N.R. Heseltine" <heseltin@hs*.us*.ed*> To: IANTD <iantdhq@ix*.ne*.co*> Subject: Re: What's a *safe* pPO2? In-Reply-To: <199606041509.IAA04504@df*.ix*.ne*.co*> Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.92.960604084910.11335A-100000@hs*.us*.ed*> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Tom, Many thanks for your reply to my post. I don't know whether you have seen the original threads of this discussion. My concern is that, with the new availablility of nitrox to sport divers, they will be facing the possibility of attaining pPO2s that simply were beyond the reach of most a few years ago. Very few were diving on air to 186 fsw let alone 218 fsw. While it is clear that tech divers and even those trained in tech nitrox will have both the knowledge, training and fitness to vary their pPO2s and reasonably assess risk (as you describe in your post), I am not so convinced that the average sport diver will do so. If nitrox is to gain wide acceptance in the sport diving community it must be seen as having reasonable rules that provide a reasonable level of safety. Your e-mail to me and many others that I have received on this topic, suggest reasonable guidelines that (as you point out) do not seem difficult to plan and are consistent with all the training I have received. On the other hand, Brett Gilliam, in a letter to Undercurrent published in May 96, states that *no-one* has ever suffered O2 toxicity at pPO2s less than 1.6, unless they has also exceded their CNS clock. Because of his reputation, that statement will be taken as gospel by many who read his books, attend his lectures or know that he is now the CEO of Uwatec USA. If Brett is right, then 'nuff said. But it seems that the perception of the knowlegeable dive community is that caution is needed. As a physician who advises sport divers on health and diving medicine issues, I am concerned that statements like Brett's undermine safety practices and possibly mislead. I would like to see the safety caveats that you mentioned in your e-mail operationalized in published letters/articles to sport divers, when absolute limits are discussed. Many thanks Peter Heseltine, MD -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'. Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
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