1.A Case of Poisoning in London
2.Lindane Reportedly Causes Seizures
3.How to Tell If Your Child is Infested
4. Woman is numb one year later
5. Fatal asthma in a child after
use of an animal shampoo containing pyrethrin
6. Malathion based head lice treatment
sickens child
7. Lindane treatment for head
lice damaged my son
5.References
Babies and children
are more at risk from pesticides than are adults for the following
reasons:
Babies have more
fat on their bodies than adults and pesticides are stored in fat.
Research has shown that recommended head lice treatments
have caused serious and sometimes fatal side effects - even after
only one application.
A
Case of Poisoning in London
A London Times article of October 5, 1997 reported, "Alison
and Keith Thomson from Carlisle started treating their three boys
with the delousing lotion Derbac-M after
an outbreak of nits at their local primary school last year. 'We
kept treating them for about three or four months because they
kept getting re-infected,' said Allison. 'I asked the doctor if
it was okay to keep using it, and he said it was fine.' Just before
Christmas Paul, developed flu-like symptoms. He became lethargic
and his personality changed. By Christmas he had become incontinent
and could hardly walk. Doctors have said a possible cause is [organophoaphates]
poisoning."
In
that same article, Dr. Vyvyan Howard, senior lecturer in fetal
and infant toxio-pathology at the University of Liverpool verified
that possibility and added, "I have used these lotions [head
lice treatments containing pesticides] myself in the past but
knowing what I do now, I would never dream of using them again
on my children."1
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Lindane
Reportedly Causes Seizures
In the U.S., the National Pediculosis Association (NPA), a non-profit
health education agency, received within a two year period, over
1100 reports of the harmful side effects of head lice treatments
containing pesticides. 500 of those reports related specifically
to Lindane, used in the head lice preparation most commonly known
as Kwell. According to Steven Pray, Professor
of Nonprescription Products and Devices at Southwestern Oklahoma
State University, "We have tragic histories of children who
experienced the same ill effects intended for the lice."
One
serious problem from lindane was reported
in the Ladies' Home Journal, "William Carpenter, an Albuquerque,
New Mexico, attorney represented the family of a healthy nine-year
old who was treated for head lice in 1986 upon the recommendation
of their physician. The child did not have head lice; her baby
brother did, but treatment for the whole family was recommended.
The child used the shampoo [containing lindane] in the shower,
followed by a cream rinse, and suffered a seizure just hours after
the one application. She suffers from brain damage and permanent
seizure disorder to this day."2
After
evaluating NPA's reports to the FDA's Medical Watch Program, the
FDA now warns that pregnant women and infants should not use lindane
and that it should only be used as a last resort after all other
available treatments have been tried. This same drug is identified
by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the
US Department of Health Services as a hazardous substance and
is banned in 18 other countries while being highly restricted
in 10 others. Despite all this, nearly two million lindane prescriptions
are still filled each year in the U.S.3
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Woman is numb one year later
A year after school governor Marjorie Graham, 64, used an insecticide
treatment for head lice, she is left with a numb torso and arms
- mystery symptoms her doctors can't explain. She is urging parents
to use non-chemical methods of head lice control on children.
'They wouldn't even notify the medical authorities of a possible
reaction until I insisted....Read
Fatal asthma in a child after use of an
animal shampoo containing pyrethrin
An 11-year-old girl had been diagnosed with asthma at age 6 years.
She had never been hospitalized and had rarely received steroids.
Her only medication was albuterol, which was taken by inhaler
as needed...Read
Malathion based head
lice treatment sickens child
She has very long hair and apparently some of the medicine had
gotten into her mouth. We had her rinse her mouth out with water
for quite a while. We also had to get her into the shower to rinse
off her head because of the pain she was in....Read
Lindane treatment for
head lice damaged my son
I used Lindane on him repeatedly, and he developed eye blinking,
which the Dr. misdiagnosed as conjunctivitis, and allergies. My
son was treated for both with no improvement. He went from being
the sweetest kid, to having awful tantrums, and he would make
these loud, piercing noises. What really saddens and scares me
is the FDA and EPA know how dangerous Lindane is, but continue
to allow it to be prescribed to our children....Read
Top
References:
1. "Head Lice Getting Ahead of Treatment,
Officials Fear", I, April 12, 1997, p.1.
2 . "Head-lice Lotion Poses Health Risk to
Children", The London Times, October 5, 1997, p.3.
3 . Lyons, Paula, "The Most Dangerous Medicine",
Ladies' Home Journal, June 1994.
4 .Snyder, Karyn, "As Children Return to
School, Lice Are, Again, in the Spotlight", Drug Topics,
September 2, 1996 v140, n17, p68(2).
From Intergrative
Medicine
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