Naslov
Household chemicals-common cause of unintentional poisoning

Autori
Klepac, Tajana ; Bušljeta, Ivana ; Macan, Jelena ; Turk, Rajka ; Plavec, Davor

Izvornik
Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju (0004-1254) 51 (2000), 4; 401-407

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, stručni

Ključne riječi
poisoning; Poison Control Centre; household chemicals

Sažetak
Out of 4736 poisoning episodes registered in the Poison Control Centre in Zagreb from 1985 to 1999, 22,9% were caused by the so called household chemicals. It is a heterogeneous group of products that we divided according to its use into four groups: cleaning products, organic solvents, cosmetics and other household chemicals. In the group of cleaning products, with respect to chemical composition, 11% of poisonings were caused by corrosives, i.e. strong acids or alkalis, 9% by liquid detergents (mostly dish-washing) and 3,9% by hypochlorite. Organic solvents caused 17,9% of household chemical poisoning; among them ingestions of gasoline and thinner were the most frequent and those caused by paint, varnish, glues and similar products with high percentage of solvents were rare. Cosmetics are responsible for 7% of poisoning with household chemicals; the most frequent were hair shampoo, hydrogen peroxide and aceton. In the group of other chemicals ingestions of potentially non-toxic mercury from thermometer and silicagel were very common, while poisonings with highly toxic antifreeze, mothballs or liquid fertilizers were relatively rare. Household chemicals are relatively unknown area for the majority of physicians who treat poisoning. Because of that ingestion or other exposure to household chemicals often provokes more concern and use of more energetic therapeutic measures than is really necessary. Therefore we strongly recommend that in such cases Poison Control Center should be consulted in order to get proper information about chemical composition and toxicity for each product.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kliničke medicinske znanosti, Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita

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