POISONOUS DISINFECTANTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 17 February 1911, Page 2

POISONOUS DISINFECTANTS.

Sir,—l am taking the liberty of writ-, iris to you under this heading hoping that the matter will bo taken'up by our Health Department'. Surely the Department have*, noticed tho great number of deaths that have taken'place recently, through disinfectants being tskeri internally. In somo cases they havo been taken in others they have been taken by accident, caused often by the Wording 011 the label. There ftre several disinfectants -which are labelled nonpoisonous j but at the same time they often state on the label that the disinfectant contained in tho bottle is two or tlireti times as strong as pure carbolic aiiid. To show, the absurdity of the poison laws ' of this Dominion, if a person wishes to buy oarbolio acid his name must be en-' tered_ in the poisons 'book kept by thocheiiiist, but on tho other hand he can go and buy not only from a chemist but trom anj; grocer a • disinfectant that is about twice as powerful as carbolic acid. Surely the Health Department can take steps to have disinfectants labelled in a similar way as they are . done in EngThis would be a. safeguard to vent ignorant people giving doses to their children and taking them themselves, being 16d astray by A plausible label; of course, it is undoubtedly of the utmost importance that disinfectants Should be largely dtid,. as they undoubtedly keep away diseases and are .absolutely necessary. ThA people should bo informed, and it is tinly reasonable that if 4 disinfectant is to be uied in killing germs it must wi poisonous' if taken internally, pat is, if it is effective. A non-poison-, oustfisiafectant is a misnomer, because it it is a powerful germicide it must necessarily be poisonous if taken interHoping the Health Department will tako .immediate steps to safeguard the community.—l am, etc., A CITIZEN.