Toxins: fear vs. research

July 14, 2008 2:45 PM

Help me find a research-based list of substances and /or ingredients that are or could be harmful to children in amounts normally found in households.

I've noticed a willingness on the part of new parents and parents-to-be to believe all kinds of things regarding toxic household products. And with good reason - regulatory agencies don't seem to be doing such a great job keeping known toxins out of food, toys, etc. But one could drive oneself crazy completely avoiding the number of poorly-studied toxins in the environment. (BTW: I am aware of federal regulations on certain chemicals, but am more concerned about low-level exposure at levels usually found in household materials.)

So I'm looking for some sort of research-based list of toxins (including potential toxins). The list should point to the original studies that show how toxic the substance is, how it might affect humans, how it gets into your system, etc. Ideally, it would be nice to have a list that divides substances up into categories in a similar way to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list, with one category for substances found at acutely toxic levels in the home (bleach, pesticides, etc.), another category for toxins normally found in low levels in households but accumulated throughout one's lifetime, and maybe another for "safer alternatives." It would also be nice to have substances categorized by how clear the danger is - is it well-documented (e.g. lead), hypothesized based on similar substances, etc. The most important parts of what I'm looking for, though, are references to primary scientific studies - hopefully peer-reviewed or government pubs.

If no such list exists, I'm willing to start putting one together if there's somewhere I can get a hold of a big chunk of this info. I'd also need a pointer toward where the studies are usually published. I am an environmental scientist (loosely classified, not a toxicologist or a chemist), and have access to a very good library. Any pointers to individual references (primary studies or reviews) would be very welcome.

posted by paselkin to health & fitness (4 comments total)

Oil-based products lead to about 20 deaths per year, mostly in children under 5. Ingestion itself is not the main problem, but rather aspiration during swallowing or following vomiting. Very low-viscosity oils (such as furniture polish) are the most dangerous. Even a very small amount can easily slip past the esophagus and rapidly coat the lungs.

More generally, there have been studies on this topic. The abstract of the linked study:

Between 1995-2004, 46 fatal cases were recorded out of a total 8802 cases of acute poisoning (0.52%). The main two causes of death by acute poisoning were: caustics (16 cases--34.78%) and mushrooms (12 cases--26.08%), followed by carbon monoxide (7 cases 15.11%), pharmaceuticals (5 cases--10.86%), ethanol (2 cases--4.34%), pesticides (2 cases--4.34%), nitrites (1 case--2.17%) and lead tetraethyl (1 case--2.17%). CONCLUSIONS: Although morbidity in acute poisoning is still high, mortality is low, the registered average being 0.52%. The main agents causing death are caustics and mushrooms, and the most affected age group is that between 1 and 5 years of age.</blockquote

posted by jedicus at 3:05 PM on July 14, 2008

I did a search on MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) which are regularly updated lists of chemicals. Several companies I've worked for have subscribed to companies that manage these lists so that we can have up-to-date information on all cleaning and maintenance products in use in the building.

From one of those sites I found Scorecard, which has info on 11,000 commonly used chemicals.
posted by saffry at 3:09 PM on July 14, 2008

Have you looked at the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Database?
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:41 PM on July 14, 2008

safemama.com has "cheat sheets" on various kids products (bottles, food storage, sunscreens, etc). they're organized by product rather than by chemical, but there's a lot of good information.
posted by judith at 8:51 PM on July 14, 2008