POISON EATEN BY CHILD

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 111, 8 February 1928, Page 8

POISON EATEN BY CHILD

HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S WARNING Steps to have the label “Poisonous” placed on packets containing a certain brand of solidified fuel tablets of Swiss manufacture, which are used extensively throughout the Dominion as a substitute for methylated spirit, are being considered by the health authorities. This action is the outcome of a recommendation by the Dominion Analyst, Dr. J. S. McLaurin, who has been investigating the circumstances under which a young child died in the Wanganui district a few days ago, some nineteen hours after it had eaten one of these tablets. The Health Department deems it necessary to warn the medical profession and the public as to the danger of leaving the tablets readily accessible to children. Experiments into their effect upon animals are now being made at the Wellington Hospital by the pathologist, Dr. P. P. Lynch.

In his report to the Coroner on the contents of the stomach and the kidneys of the child, the Government Analyst quoted an article in the “Analyst,” which said: “As this fuel is so widely used and is frequently left within the reach of children, it is hardly possible to give too much publicity to its dangerous character.” Dr. McLaurin remarked that in view of the grave danger to children it would appear to be advisable to have the poisonous nature of the tablets more clearly indicated on the packets than at present. A Dominion reporter was told of the case of the child of a Wellington doctor who recently swallowed a small portion of one’ of the tablets, later becoming very ill. The doctor’s care and skill, however, in this instance, was able to save the life of his child.