Citation

Buckley NA, Eddleston M, Dawson AH. Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. 2005; 32(11): 999-1005.

Affiliation

South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo. nick.buckley@act.gov.au

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1440-1681.2005.04298.x

PMID

16405459

PMCID

PMC1475780

Abstract

1. Pesticide poisoning kills hundreds of thousands of people in the Asia-Pacific region each year. The majority of deaths are from deliberate self-poisoning with organophosphorus pesticides (OP), aluminium phosphide and paraquat. The current response from a public health, medical and research perspective is inadequate. 2. There are few proven or effective treatments; in addition, very little clinical research has been performed to transfer antidotes shown to work in animal studies into clinical practice. 3. The human toxicity of pesticides is poorly studied and better information may inform a more sustained and appropriate regulatory response. Further understanding may also lead to improvements in diagnosis and treatment. 4. The few effective treatments are not being recommended or delivered in an optimal and timely fashion to poisoned patients. A regional approach to facilitate appropriate pricing, packaging and delivery of antidotes is required.