Bleach tops list of poisoning agents

Ann Slattery has worked as a toxicologist at the Regional Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital for 25 years, and as long as she can remember the top category of poisonings every year has been household cleaners, she said. Last year, the center got 1,812 such calls.



And Slattery said most of the toxic exposures involve one particular cleaner - bleach.

"Everybody has bleach," Slattery said. "We are a society that loves to sanitize."

People of all ages are poisoned with bleach in a variety of ways, she said. One the most common is putting bleach in a coffee cup to rid it of stains. Then someone comes along and pours coffee on the bleach and drinks the concoction.
Then there are the people who are doused with bleach. A few weeks ago a mother set a cup of bleach on top of a dryer and it rattled off and splashed over her child, Slattery said.

Most of these incidents aren't life-threatening, but people should call poison control when a bleach poisoning occurs, Slattery said. The center can recommend treatment and help decide whether an emergency room visit is warranted.
Typically, people poisoned by bleach are told to drink a clear, cool beverage. Most household bleach is diluted enough that it won't permanently burn the esophagus, although there could be some stinging and nausea, Slattery said. "It should subside in an hour."

Bleach stings the eyes. Thus, people are usually instructed to irrigate their eyes and then cover them with a cool compress. Don't try to ease the pain with eyedrops. "We don't want the eye to feel better if it's not," Slattery said.

Source: The Birmingham News
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