Poisoning in Children and adolescents assisted during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Toxicological Information and Assistance Center in Federal District, Brazil (CIATOX -DF): Descriptive, Cross-sectional, and Analytical study with 1.037 patients

Exogenous poisonings are one of the principal accidents involving children and adolescents. The social isolation promoted by the COVID-19 pandemic raises concerns about the possibility of an increase in poisoning among children since most cases of poisoning occur in home environments. Therefore, the present study evaluated exogenous poisonings in children under ten years of age and adolescents aged 11 to 20 years old through data recorded at the Toxicological Information and Assistance Center in the Federal District (CIATOX-DF) from January to September 2020. The results showed a change in the number of notifications, with 1.037 poisonings registered in patients under 20 years of age. Registrations of poisoning by venomous animals, medications, and household cleaning products in children tend to be higher in months of vacation. This study demonstrated poisoning notifications by non-venomous animals in March and April and household cleaning products as the second leading cause of exogenous poisoning, demonstrating a clear temporal association among social isolation, increased use of household cleaning products, and exposure to these products. The multivariate analysis methodology managed to show the significant characteristics of the studied sample, contributing to creating local actions that aim to reduce the number of preventable cases of poisonings.

Studies on the Production and Consumer Acceptability of Eco-Friendly Household Cleaning Products from Locally Available Materials

Household cleaning products are commonly used worldwide to enhance cleanliness and hygiene. Most household cleaning products marketed commercially today are very expensive, unaffordable and contain toxic and harmful chemicals. Some may even damage the cleaned surface through corrosion or abrasion. The aim of this study was to produce eco-friendly household cleaning products from locally available materials. The study was carried out in Omuku, Rivers State. The population was made up of all 182 housekeepers and working mothers across the five school of the Federal College (Technical) of Education and 15 hotels. The stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 102 working mothers and housekeepers. Household cleaning products such as liquid soap was produced from local materials such as orange, lemon, tangerine, coconut oil, and palm ash. Toilet cleaner was formulated from ginger and aloe vera extracts and activated carbon while floor wash was made from local gin, liquid wash, alcohol, lemon and sodium chloride. The products were subjected to sensory acceptability. A nine Point Hedonic Scale questionnaire was also constructed and administered to the respondents for data collection. Mean rating was used to analyze the research questions and sensory evaluation and Z-test was used to analyze the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed that the locally produced household cleaners were acceptable in terms of quality. The respondents’ response differed with respect to the colour and the odour of locally made household cleaners especially the locally produced liquid soap. The study also revealed that the locally produced household cleaners differed from commercial ones only in terms of colour. The result therefore indicates the potentials of utilizing locally available materials for the production of non-toxic, natural and environmentally safe household cleaning products.

Analysis of Business Opportunities and Threats in The Household Cleaners Sub-Sector of The Chemicals Industry in Indonesia

A thriving chemical industry, opens opportunities for small entrepreneurs to compete in this industry, especially for household cleaning products. The global household cleaners market is expected to record a CAGR of 5.7% over the forecast period, 2018-2023. Competition for household cleaners is the most visible competition in the chemical industry. To remain competitive, companies are required to provide solutions to environmental problems through the development of green products. Environmental awareness in the community has also increased due to government support and intensive go-green campaigns. This paper presents an analysis of the external condition in the household cleaning market that is able to bring small and medium-sized companies to grow larger and is also able to compete in the current household cleaning industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the condition of the household cleaning market in Indonesia and to help business people formulate their strategic policies. The approach to be used in this study with external analysis consisting of PESTEL analysis, Porter’s 5 Force, and Customer Analysis.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2): a review of its use in homemade explosives

This article presents an overview of hydrogen peroxide and its use in the illicit production of homemade explosives. Hydrogen peroxide is used extensively around the world in many industries, including aerospace. It is also used as the main ingredient in some household cleaning products. However, it has been illicitly used to create both primary and secondary homemade explosives in recent numerous terrorist attacks across Europe. In this article, we describe the historical background and the characteristics of the substance, the aspects concerning its manufacture and present-day use as a main explosive component or direct chemical precursor of homemade explosives, and the options for detection.

Consumer perception of insects in non-food products

In order to evolve towards a green and biobased economy, the use of insects can play a vital role for the management of organic waste and its conversion into biomass. The larvae of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), a high fat containing insect, appear to hold interesting opportunities for companies active in oleo chemistry as well as companies that process the fats and derived products (such as surfactants) into end products, such as detergents, household cleaning products, personal care products and cosmetics. When introducing new green products like these to consumers, an understanding of the perception of insect-based products is necessary to choose appropriate marketing strategies to overcome innovation resistance. Due to the lack of research on this subject, the purpose of this study is to develop an initial understanding of the consumer perception and to explore the factors driving and hindering the adoption of insect-based products. The majority of studies on the subject of insects, is focused on applications in food. Our study aims to fill an existing gap, by focussing on non-food products. A mixed method design was used and consists of a literature study, and a qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. The results indicate that both novelty seekers and risk avoiders are willing to try insect-based products, but barriers vary per product category. This study is part of the INFACT project, in which green surfactants, based on black soldier fly fats are synthesised and implemented in technical applications.

Comparative toxicity effects of cleaning products on fish, algae and crustacea

The hygiene process imposes a high usage of household cleaning products and personal care products, which after use reach the municipal and industrial wastewater of the sewerage networks and finally the surface waters. Depending on the physic, chemical and biological properties of the constituent substances, they could manifest various harmful effects on the aquatic organisms such as mortality, inhibition or stimulation of growth / development, and changes of the community structure linked to particular ecosystems and water quality degradation. The study objective was to highlighted the aquatic toxicity effects of some cleaning products on freshwater fish, green microalgae and planktonic crustaceans in order to correspond to EU ecolabel criteria. Three products based on anionic, non ionic and amphoteric surfactants were tested using OECD methodologies. The laboratory experiments showed non toxic acute effects on tested organisms. The acute toxicity concentrations (EC 50 / LC50) being more than 100 mg/l for each tested product. According to international norms for toxicity classification all the products were non harmful for aquatic live.