THE 17th City Council passed under first reading a proposed ordinance to ban the selling of butane within the metropolis.
The barangay council of Governor Paciano Bangoy, Agdao District also passed Resolution No. 54 series of 2014, banning the chemical in the village.
According to drugs-forum.com, butane is a colorless, highly flammable gas that has been known to be used as an inhalant to cause dissociation and hallucinations.
"In this respect, butane use can cause death through ill-considered/dangerous administration, fatal arrhythmia through its action on the heart or respiratory arrest through CNS depression from an over-dose. Although it has no known action of cell toxicity, there exists a link with selective thalamic sequelae (brain damage) and chronic butane (ab)use," it read.
It was learned that "butane" caused the fire in several barangays in the city recently.
Butane is used for table-top stoves and camping stoves.
But, butane has become a very common commodity today available even in neighborhood sari-sari stores as prices of LPG in big tanks have made these prohibitive to those who can only afford their supplies for the day.