There is an understanding among some barbecue gurus: "As the wise man with no eyebrows once said, 'there really is such a thing as too much lighter fluid.'"

Charred eyebrows aside, lighter fluid is also a health hazard because of the considerable amount of hydrocarbons it disperses into the air.

On any given game day, Spartan tailgaters keep warm by their grills, cooking everything from bratwurst and kielbasa to hamburgers and chicken breasts.

A survey of the miles of tailgate areas surrounding Spartan Stadium before the 2004 MSU-Ohio State football game revealed 432 propane grills and 147 charcoal grills.

Barbecue and air experts agree that cooking with lighter fluid and charcoal is more harmful to air quality and the grilled food than cooking with propane. But propane is not entirely benign to the environment.

The non-renewable fuel is extracted from natural gas and refined crude oil. About 11 billion gallons of it are consumed every year in the United States. And because 75 percent of American homes own a grill, with 61 percent of them fueled by propane, barbecues contribute to that demand.

The typical propane grill uses 50-pound tanks, so one could conclude that more than 20,000 pounds of propane was present for the tailgate parties before the MSU-Ohio State football game. But calculating the propane used to heat the meat at tailgate parties is tricky.

"Propane's consumption depends on a million variables, from the weather to how much you are cooking and what you are cooking," said Steve Walker, president of the National Barbecue Association in Austin, Texas. "Some meats take longer than others. And if it's a cold day, it will take longer to cook whatever you're going to eat. But propane has become much more popular over the years because it's much cleaner and getting more efficient."

By comparison, charcoal barbecues have their drawbacks: excessive exposure to lighter fluid causes asthma and shortness of breath, sore throat, eye irritation and abdominal pain, according to the National Institutes of Health

That's one reason why enthusiasts tout propane as a clean and modern way of enjoying a barbecue. Propane gives off 60 to 70 percent fewer hydrocarbons and other greenhouse gases than gasoline and lighter fluid, according to the National Propane Gas Association. Greenhouse gasses are pollutants that help trap heat and contribute to global climate change.

Even if Spartan tailgaters choose propane four-to-one over charcoal, there are still environmental considerations, said David Gard, energy policy specialist at the Michigan Environmental Council.

"It's not without impact," he said. "A lot of it has to do with how close these barbecues are with each other and what kind of weather there is that day--whether there is wind or if it's sunny."

That's why some air organizations in American cities - such as San Francisco and Seattle - discourage barbecuing on July 4, a day that is usually hot and muggy.

Hazardous ground-level ozone has two main components: nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds, which include carbon monoxide. Greenhouse gases form when these two components hit sun rays. Lighter fluid used in charcoal grills is more harmful than propane because propane doesn't contain as many volatile organic compounds, Gard said.

However, Gard speculated that the number of cars sitting in the parking lots collectively impacted the air more than the grills.

"You could say that barbecuing might be analogous to second-hand smoking when you are standing next to a source of air pollution. But my gut feeling tells me that the cars and the transportation used to travel to these tailgate parties probably outweighs barbecuing in terms of air pollution."

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