Abstract

Introduction: Consumption of household chemicals like insecticides, rodenticides, repellents, detergents etc is common in cases presenting to casualty. A lot of incidents among these are caused by accident and completely preventable only if the person using them had awareness or basic understanding of the effects that the chemicals present in the products can cause. Material and methods: In this observational cross-sectional study a total of 345 participants answered the questionnaire to check awareness and attitudes of people about the use, precautions, and accidental poisoning of common household poisons based on MCQ type questionnaire. Observation & results: In this study, for 20 questions 14 questions have more than 50% correct reply; and 3 questions got more than 90% correct responses. It shows although there is some basic knowledge regarding household poisons more awareness & training programmes are needed as it is a matter of life & death. Conclusion & recommendations: The lack of proper knowledge and awareness of the potential dangers of household poisons and their increased use has caused an increase in cases of household poisoning. Everyone should have at least the basic knowledge of the potential harms that common household items can cause. Very old and very young members of the family should be kept away from household “poisons”. Making it a habit to read the labels on any new product that one buys.

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