This past March, Kristal Salcido, a 12-year-old seventh grader in Victorville, Calif., inhaled HCFC-22 from an air conditioning unit in the backyard of her grandmother’s home. She was later found passed out on the bathroom floor. Rushed to the emergency room, Salcido was pronounced brain dead. Four days later, her family decided to take her off life support.
She had used the R-22 in a ritual called huffing — the intentional inhalation of chemical vapors to attain a mental high or euphoric effect.