Acute pesticide poisoning in England and Wales

Between 1979 and 1983 less than 1% of admissions from acute poisoning in the UK were due to pesticides and fewer than 4% of admissions in those under 5 years were from this cause. Organochlorine, organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides account for only 10% of the total in both children and adults. Suspected pesticide poisoning was the cause of fewer than 0.3% of home accidents in those under 10 years of age and less than 4% of suspected poisonings documented by the Home Accident Surveillance System. Rodenticides were thought to be involved in 62% of these cases. Of children who presented to hospital 42% were admitted and 93% of these were discharged home within 2 days. In the UK, the morbidity from acute pesticide poisoning in children is low and the mortality is nil and there is therefore no evidence to support the view that paediatric pesticide intoxication is a significant clinical problem. Though no fatalities were recorded in children, pesticides were responsible for 1.3% of all deaths due to poisoning in the UK between 1979 and 1983. In adults admitted to hospital, the mortality from pesticide poisoning is approximately 12% and three quarters of these deaths are due to the deliberate ingestion of paraquat. The general term pesticide refers to a group of products that are used as insecticides, acaricides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, and plant growth agents. Chemically, the group includes bipyridilium compounds, carbamates, chloralose, chlorates, coumarins, dinitro compounds, dithiocarbamates, fluoroacetates, organochlorine organophosphorus and organotin compounds, pentachlorophenol, phenoxyacetates, phosphine (as magnesium and aluminium phosphides), pyrethrins, pyrethroids and triazines.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)