Man Dies Wearing Diaper

[Diaper273]

http://www.kirotv.com/money/18952162/detail.html

So I guess an old man died because he smoked and the flames fell onto his diaper. I knew diapers were made out of petroleum, but I never knew that they were so flammable that they could light up like that. Quite sad what happened to him though. He died because he needed something to keep him comfortable and it didn't do that for him.

It brings up a certain question though, do diapers NEED petroleum? Or can they be made in the same fashion without them? And if so, then why not do so?

And could this lead to other things such as infants and toddlers dying because of these things?

[Darkfinn]

Of course diapers are flamable... your regular clothes are too. This man could have been wearing anything else and still died... the media is just trying to sensationalize it by making an overblown claim.

I hate the media... they thrive on sensationalism and fearmongering... there is no such thing as good, honest reporing anymore.

Plastic is *GASP* a petrolium byproduct... along with half of the things we use every day. Petrolium is more than the gas you put in your tank people.

[Diaper273]

Of course my clothes are flammable, but not as flammable as a tank of gas lol

Why are you bringing this over the edge? All I merely wanted to do was raise a few questions on the subject, not raise the "media is conspiring against society to bring down the evolution of man" theory.

And it's not like I wear plastic on an everyday basis. I don't purposefully go out of my way to wear plastic.

[Yvhuce]

There's already a topic about this article. Smokers set themselves on fire every now and then. It's the prime candidate for instances of "spontaneous human combustion". Just another way that smoking'll kill ya. Instead of holding this up as a "beware of diapers" warning, it should be held up as a "don't smoke" warning.

[adriansurley]

Wow that is truly sad.

[Guest YkDave]

hmmm, i dont know about the rest of you guys but i have thrown many diapers into fires and they do everything short of blowing up.... they really are not all that flammable, definitely not as bad as some clothing.

Still, it would be a pretty 'shitty' way to go...

[ultrapampers]

hmmm, i dont know about the rest of you guys but i have thrown many diapers into fires and they do everything short of blowing up.... they really are not all that flammable...

I agree. I've tossed them (even dry ones) into the fireplace before and, while the intense heat lights off the plastic pretty quick, the padding takes ages to burn. It turns out that the SAP in modern diapers is actually a fire retardant. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on Superabsorbent polymer:

Uses

...

Diapers and Incontinence Garments

Drown-Free water source for feeder insects

Filtration Applications

Fire-retardant gel

...

[leafy kille]

plastic + fire = bad!

duh!

[Santiago]

Of course the family is also suing the diaper company (TENA). How ridiculous...