The body/breathing essentially responds to buildup of CO2, not lack of O2. So anything that replaces oxygen is bad, CO especially so as it ties hard to the blood and can kill you even if you're "saved" and brought out into fresh air... N2 immersion is apparently one of the "nicer" ways to go - no triggering of breath/spasm/panic, the brain just turns off due to lack of O2. Edit:" especially *CO*", not "especially CO2", duh...