Steps After Product Injury

If you or a loved one suffers chemical exposure from a consumer product that results in an occupational or environmental injury or disease... Your PCP or ER physician may be your only opportunity to have your disease or injury properly diagnosed and recognized. This can affect insurance reimbursement, reporting, establishing preventive measures in eliminating and controlling future cases against exposure, epidemiological reporting and studies (particularly in identifying the rates of disease).   

Poison Control is a useful tool. However, the reality is the exact  chemical composition of toy products is frequently unknown to consumers  at the point of purchase and physicians at the point of care. Many of the studies examining the costs and effectiveness of poison control centers lack the necessary or appropriate data needed to reach strong conclusions, particularly regarding effectiveness. 

Instead of focusing solely on Poison Control's consultation services, it is important to remember that one of poison control's core functions is as a toxico-surveillance system, which allows for real-time detection of surveillance anomalies and events of public health significance. Without physicians and the public reporting, risks to the public are less likely to be identified. 

I feel it is important to clarify, I believe Poison Control provides vital services to the community. It is my desire for Poison Control Centers to have their funding increased and their ability to follow up on cases expanded. More people need to understand the importance of Poison Control Centers and The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units. 

Reference

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Poison Prevention and Control.  Forging a Poison Prevention and Control System. Washington (DC):  National Academies Press (US); 2004.  6, Current Costs, Funding, and  Organizational Structures. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215801 

Anita Mudan, Jacob A. Lebin & Craig G. Smollin (2022) The poisoning of big data: using large data registries for research in toxicology, Toxicology Communications, 6:1, 39-41,

https://doi.org/10.1080/24734306.2022.2045788

Cegolon, L., Lange, J. H., & Mastrangelo,  G. (2010). The Primary Care Practitioner and the diagnosis of  occupational diseases. BMC public health, 10, 405. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-405

Protect your family, take steps after product injury, protect your fellow Americans by reporting unsafe products to Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

Your report can help save lives.