The bad habit of diverting fuel with your mouth is common among Nigerian motor mechanics, although it is not limited to them as many Nigerians also engage in it when they use a hose to transfer fuel to the tank of their cars or generators . Experts, however, warn that this popular practice is dangerous and could damage vital body organs such as the lungs, liver and esophagus. ANTONIO ADEMILUYI reports
McEwen Street is one of the most prominent streets in Yaba, a popular suburb in Lagos State. The street was named after the first National Secretary of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon, Mr. FS McEwen. The first English trained tailor to settle in Lagos, Mr. MO Idowu has his shop located on this street and it is still run by his descendants.
The street is also home to a large mechanic shop where apprentices live and learn the ropes of the trade before they “win their freedom” and leave to set up similar mechanic shops wherever they choose.
One of the apprentices at the Ewan Street mechanic workshop is Ayomide Atanda. The 21-year-old who hails from Kwara State said he has always wanted to be a car mechanic.
Speaking to PUNCH HealthWise, he said when he first started learning the trade, he was ready to learn all the tricks needed to excel in the car repair business, including how to suck fuel with his mouth.
However, he noted that most mechanics use nozzles to siphon fuel while fixing cars due to the absence of tools needed to extract fuel when needed.
He said: “The reason we suck fuel with our mouths is often because of our inability to get things to get the fuel straight when we need it. Most mechanic shops don’t have them, so apprentices learn the act of using the mouth to draw fuel. We learn this from our ‘oga.’ When we suck the fuel out of the hose from the barrels and it comes out, we can easily transfer the fuel to a car tank or anywhere we want to use -lo. It’s faster than turning it straight, as some of the fuel can spill and get lost. That’s why we do it.
“We also suck fuel out of car engines with our mouths sometimes when we want to use the fuel to wash our hands. There is some methylated spirit in the fuel. You immediately wash your hands with fuel, the oil from hand or body will be easily removed. So we first wash our hands and body with fuel before using soap to clean the smell of fuel from our body.” Atanda added that fuel serves other cleaning purposes in mechanic shops, and has noted that it is used to clean some parts of the vehicle, especially when they are greasy and oily.
He also claimed that using benzine for all sorts of things helps mechanics prevent some infections, saying: “If you wash your hands with benzine when you cut your nails or hand, (the benzine) will kill any bacteria and you won’t get tetanus.”
Atanda confirmed that there are occasional mistakes of swallowing small gasoline while sucking fuel, especially among trainees who have not yet perfected the skill of mouth-sucking fuel.
When asked if he was aware that swallowing petrol, even by mistake, could cause serious health problems such as long-term lung damage, Atanda said: “I, I don’t know. No risk anyway labor. All jobs have risks.”
Another apprentice mechanic, Seun Quadri, also told our correspondent that sucking fuel with his mouth is a normal thing for mechanics, noting that any mechanic who cannot do this is not ready for work.
He said: “This is a normal thing. It’s the way we transfer fuel from one thing to another. It’s also the way we get the fuel out that we use to clean dirt from some part of the engine or our hands”.
Quadri said he is not aware that sucking fuel with his mouth is dangerous.
“I don’t know any danger. We’ve been doing it for years. This is how we work,” he said.
However, as happened at this Yaba mechanic shop, this risky practice is quite common in many mechanic shops across the country.
What is a fuel siphon?
Fuel siphoning is simply the act of emptying a vehicle’s fuel tank by using your mouth to suck the fuel through a hose. The contents of the tank, for example, can be transferred in this way to a container such as a drum and then used to fill the tank of a different vehicle or used for other purposes.
Chemical components of the fuel
According to a paper written by Karuna Arjoon and James Speight and published in MDPI Journal, a peer-reviewed open access journal, the chemical components of the fuel are: Carbon – 83 to 87% Hydrogen – 10 to 14% Nitrogen – 0.1 at 2% oxygen – 0.05 to 1.5%. According to health experts, it is dangerous to inject these chemicals.
Suction fuel with nozzles not limited to mechanics
Our correspondent’s findings revealed that the fuel-sucking habit is not limited to mechanics. A cross-section of Nigerians from many walks of life, including literate and semi-illiterate people, said they do it occasionally. While some people said they know it’s unhealthy and could be dangerous, others said they’re not aware it has any serious risks.
Sucking fuel with the mouth can damage the respiratory tract – Expert
According to a Consultant Public Health Physician and Lecturer in the Department of Community Medicine, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, who is also the Director, Funmi Adunni Olayinka Diagnostic and Wellness Centre, EKSUTH, Ado Ekiti, Dr. Adebowale Femi Akinwumi, sucking fuel with mouths should be discouraged among artisans and other Nigerians as it could cause serious damage to the respiratory tract.
He told PUNCH Healthwise that those doing so are engaging in dangerous practices and should be discouraged from continuing.
“Firstly, the health implications will depend on the type of fuel they tend to suck, inhale or ingest and the amount, as well as the duration of these practices. For example, gasoline (which Americans they called gasoline) is made up of hydrocarbons and some say it contains more than 150 different hydrocarbon chemicals. Many of these chemicals have dangerous effects on humans. Inhaling the chemicals can affect the respiratory tract (respiratory tract). , including the lungs. You could have irritation of the respiratory tract, you could have inflammation of the lungs leading to pneumonitis, causing coughing and difficulty breathing. If this person is exposed for a long time, it could cause serious damage to the lungs.
“Similarly, in the process of sucking fuel, some of the fuel can also be ingested or swallowed and can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. The chemicals can also affect the neurological system causing headaches, fatigue, dizziness and other neurological symptoms.Aromatic hydrocarbons in fuel are also carcinogenic and over time could lead to the development of blood cancer, lung cancer, etc. said Dr. Akinwumi.
Speaking further, Dr. Akinwumi said, “This practice of sucking fuel with mouth should be discouraged, unions of this group of workers should commit to educate them. I believe they can be reoriented through education healthcare to change and stop the practice.
He also warned against the practice of washing hands and body with gasoline. He said: “This is another unhealthy practice that is common among this group of workers. OK, tools and engine parts dirty with some lubricants can only be cleaned with certain solvents, for which water is not is suitable. Gasoline is one such solvent. They do this cleaning with their bare hands and also wash their hands with fuel. They should stop. The health implications of this practice include skin abrasions, skin rashes and blisters. These conditions are called dermatitis. It can also cause numbness and tingling in the fingers after prolonged use. Many chemicals in fuel are irritants that can affect different layers of the skin.
“What they should do, as much as possible, while trying to clean dirty tools is to avoid contact with their skin or to avoid using their bare hands to do so. The place of use of gloves while works on vehicles and cleaning their tools becomes very important. There are gloves designed for use in factories and workshops that they should wear while working or cleaning dirty tools. And after they are done with their work, s ‘they should wash their hands with soap and water.As far as possible, you should minimize the direct contact of your skin with fuel, lubricants or oil which is quite common in your work environment.
“Some people even use gasoline to clean open wounds. Why should anyone pour fuel on a wound? Why? This is one of the practices among our people that one tends to wonder what is the reason of this. If one has a small wound or a fresh cut, fuel should not be the next thing to pour on it. The first reaction is to clean it under running water or pour water on it and rinse the broken surface and administer first aid. If the cut is deep, you can pack gauze or a piece of clean material around the cut surface to control the bleeding and take the individual to the hospital. So putting fuel on an open wound is wrong . What you are doing is adding these chemicals to the gasoline, these hydrocarbons into the bloodstream and directly into the body through the exposed skin surface. It could also delay wound healing. When there is a cut, it usually takes place a natural process al to stop the bleeding and if the cut is small, the bleeding stops. But, adding fuel to the wound, this natural process is likely to be disrupted.
