Chemical storage issue highlighted

The importance of keeping chemical substances in their proper containers has been highlighted in a Dunedin-based study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today.

It is against the law to store chemicals in food and drink containers.

The New Zealand National Poisons Centre study used call data between 2003 and 2012. Of 324,411 calls, 757 involved human exposure to products in unlabelled or non-original containers.

Receptacles included soft drink and milk bottles, as well as alcohol bottles.

Adults were involved in 51% of incidents. Most patients had no symptoms, or mild symptoms.

''This study has highlighted ongoing concerns pertaining to the storage of chemicals in unlabelled or mislabelled containers, despite legislation designed to prevent such incidents.

''More attention needs to be given to ways of reducing accidental exposures to household and other chemicals; it is important that all hazardous chemicals are stored safely and not decanted from their original containers into vessels normally used for, or associated with, drinking,'' the study authors said.

Many commercial products had child-resistant closures, so decanting them to a different container posed an additional risk.

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