DON'T EVEN THINK THAT WAY Neil. I had a very close call several years ago where I sprayed a body seam on an E-Type Jag and went to weld it over an hour later. I thought my lungs were going to be torn out. Luckily for me there were no lasting effects because others who have had no larger dose have had life altering results.
Pete
You guys are actually missing out the reaction actually works...
It's actually a cobination of heat, the UV of the arc, and C02 shield gas. First the heat breaks down the solvent into smaller chemicals. The UV allows part of those chemicals to pick up a freeradical which then causes it to combine with the CO2 gas to make Phosgene. It;'s a really interestingly complex chain of events that is needed.
FYI lots of things when heated can make phosgene, several thermoresin plastics, some rubbers, and even a few food grade materials under the right conditions. It's a very simple chemical, and was produced during the second world war with nothing more than chlorine gas and carbon monoxide with activated charcoal as a catalyst. It's one of the most stupid easy deadly compounds to make we've ever discovered.
Also I've seen it called nerve gas and nerve agent in this thread. It isn't. The affects on the nervous system are due to lack of oxygen, which can of course be permanent. It's more along the lines of being strangled to death. Nerve agents work in a wholy different and ugly manner.