Household poisons

Under the Sink and in the Garden Shed Household Poisons... 

Chronic liver disease has been attributed to long-term household poisoning with pentachlorphenol (31). 

By the mid-1950s, public health officials were concerned about the toxicity of various modern products. Alarmed by a rise in reported household poisonings, in 1957 the American Public Health Association passed a resolution calling for better... 

In line with this last commitment, parents either remove or secure any common suicidal means on the household premises, including prescription and over-the-counter medications, household poisons, knives and razor blades,... 

Toxicity. Sodium fluoroacetate is one of the most effective all-purpose rodenticides known (18). It is highly toxic to all species of rats tested and can be used either in water solution or in bait preparations. Its absence of objectionable taste and odor and its delayed effects lead to its excellent acceptance by rodents. It is nonvolatile, chemically stable, and not toxic or irritating to the unbroken skin of workers. Rats do not appear to develop any significant tolerance to this compound from nonlethal doses. However, it is extremely dangerous to humans, to common household pets, and to farm animals, and should only be used by experienced personnel. The rodent carcasses should be collected and destroyed since they remain poisonous for a long period of time to any animal that eats them. 

The hazards of human poisoning by the parathions have stimulated the development of safer analogues. Two chlorinated derivatives have gready reduced mammalian toxicides. Dicapthon [2463-84-5], 0,0-dimethyl 0-(2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl) phosphorothioate (63) (mp 53°C), has rat LD qS of 400, 330 (oral) and 790, 1250 (dermal) mg/kg. Chlorthion [500-20-8], 0,0-dimethyl 0-(3-chloro-4-nitrophenyl) phosphorothioate (64) (mp 21°C, <71.437), has rat LD qS of 890, 980 (oral) and 4500, 4100 (dermal) mg/kg. These compounds have been used as household insecticides. 

Because small children may suck on matches, the question of toxicity is often raised and the lingering, vague, though unwarranted idea of phosphoms poisoning may cause concern to laymen and even to physicians. Potassium chlorate is the only active material that can be extracted in more than traces from a match head and only 9 mg are contained in one head. This, even multiphed by the content of a whole book, is far below any toxic amount (19) for even a small child. No poisonous properties whatsoever can be imputed to the striking strip. SAW matches are similarly harmless but, because of their easy flammabihty, they should be entirely kept out of a household with smaller children. The same warning may apply to all wooden matches. 

Benzyldiethyl[(2,6-xylylcarbamoyl)methyl]ammoniumbenzoate (denatonium benzoate [3734-33-6] Bitrex) is an extremely bitter tasting, nonirritating, and nonmutagenic compound that has been widely used in many household products such as detergents, nail poHsh removers, and cleaning agents, to prevent childhood poisoning. It is also used as an alcohol denaturant. 

Acute poisoning in the household by actual ingestion or food contamination... 

Subacute or chronic poisoning of consumers through residues in fruit, vegetables, meat, or dairy products or through improper household use... 

Health officers may also be notified when household pets are poisoned.)... 

Mercury drops were often encountered when a thermometer was broken. Mercury is poisonous and banned from households. 

Fischbein A, Wallace J, Sassa S, et al. 1992. Lead poisoning from art restoration and pottery work unusual exposure source and household risk. J Environ Path Toxicol Oncol 11(1) 7-11. 

Certain products used in the home may contain //-hexane, for example, some quick-drying glues and cements used in hobbies. These products should be kept out of the reach of children and only used with proper ventilation. Always store household chemicals in their original, labeled containers. Never store household chemicals in containers children would find attractive to eat or drink from, such as old soda bottles. Keep your Poison Control Center s number by the phone. 

Poison Packaging Prevention Act of 1953, last amended in 1990, provides the Consumer Product Safety Commission authority to set standards for the special packaging of any household product to protect children from a hazard. 

Ammonia and bleach are two common household chemicals that should never be mixed. One product of this reaction is chloramine, a poisonous, volatile compound. The reaction is as follows. 

Insecticides are derived from petroleum oil, which can usually be applied in water-emulsion form and which have marked killing power for certain species of insects. For many applications for which their own effectiveness is too slight, the oils serve as carriers for active poisons, as in the household and livestock sprays. 

Some toxic effects are reversible. Everyone has been exposed to some agent, household ammonia for example, that produces irritation to the skin or eyes. Exposure ends and, sometimes perhaps with a delay, the irritation ends. Some readers have no doubt been poisoned on occasion by the ingestion of too much alcohol. The effects here also reverse. The time necessary for reversal can vary greatly depending upon the severity of the intoxication and certain physiological features of the person intoxicated. But most people also realize that chronic alcohol abuse can lead to a serious liver disorder, cirrhosis, which may not reverse even if alcohol intake ceases. This type of effect is irreversible or only very slowly reversible. It is important in making a toxicological evaluation to understand whether effects are reversible or irreversible, because one is obviously much more serious than the other. 

You can sow in all sorts of containers, purchased or recycled from household items. The basic requirement is that whatever you use allows adequate drainage, is robust enough for the job, and is free from disease organisms and chemicals poisonous to plants. 

Chlorine s best-known characteristic is its smell. It can be detected when used as household bleach or as an antiseptic in swimming pools. As an antiseptic, it is added to municipal drinking water supplies. Chlorine gas has a very pungent odor that is suffocating when inhaled. In a more concentrated form, Cl was also a deadly poisonous gas used in combat during World War I. Because it combines with so many other elements, particularly metals, chlorine is fundamental to many industries, particularly the plastics industry. 

All the isotopes and compounds of americium are deadly sources of radiation and cause radiation poisoning and death. Precautions must be taken when working with it. The small amount of americium-241 found in smoke detectors in household smoke alarms is harmless unless the isotope is removed and swallowed. 

Attempts to label dangerous substances with either characteristic or outright unpleasant odors have not been successful with children, the primary victims of accidental poisonings by toxic household products. Children tolerate odors that adults find unpleasant, such as that of butyric acid. The range between the most pleasant and unpleasant odors is much narrower for children around 4years of age than for adults, and also much narrower than for taste stimuli. This means that olfactory cues are not suited to produce aversive responses in children (Engen, 1974b, Cain, 1978). 

Nhachi C, Kasilo O. 1994. Household chemicals poisoning admissions in Zimbabwe main urban centers. Human and Experimental Toxicology 13(2) 69-72. 

Green AlA A household remedy misused— fatal cresol poisoning following cutaneous absorption—(a case report). Med Sci Law 15 65-66, 1975... 

---