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The WiZard is In
International Hazard
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Registered: 3-4-2010
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Quote: Originally posted by redox  |
I then forgot about chemistry for a few years. When I about ten, my dad bought me a cool little micro-set. It came with about 40 different
reagents, about 1 gram each. I was fascinated with the fact that on the bottles was an overzealous warning about toxicity. COBALT CHLORIDE--EXTREMELY
POISONOUS. Yeah right! The LD50 is 80 mg/kg, thus I would need about five bottles of it to maybe kill me. |
Cobalt poisoning in a 6-year-old
The Lancet Vol. 335 pg. 981
[Sanned - and you know what that means!]
SIR—A 6-year-old boy was admitted to hospital at 1530 h
on April 12, 1989. About 7 hours earlier his mother had
told him to make a drink for his 4-year-old sister. He
added to a blackcurrant cordial ('Ribena') half a
teaspoon (about 2-5 g) of cobalt chloride crystals from
a toy crystal-growing set that is widely available in UK
supermarket chains (figure). His mother, suspecting
that he had added something, such as soap, told him
to drink it himself. He drank two-thirds of a glass at
0850 without saying what he had done and went to
school. During the morning he complained of
abdominal pain and vomited.
The mother suspected that he might have swallowed
some crystals, and the boy was taken to the local
emergency department at 1300, where he was
given an emetic. He vomited three times. He
was transferred to the children's ward at another
hospital at 1530. Physical examination was normal
and cardiac monitoring revealed no abnormalities.
His serum contained cobalt at 7230 nmol/1
(4020 nmol/l in whole blood); the normal range is
2-17 nmol/l for plasma and whole blood. His initial
blood count was Hb 11.9 g/dI, and white cells 4900/0
(granulocytes 35%, lymphocytes 59%, monocytes
6%). Examination of the blood film confirmed
neutropenia. Blood urea and electrolytes
were normal. He was discharged after 48 h.
[Table] Cobalt, in blood and in urine, cleared rapidly
and no specific treatment for cobalt poisoning was needed.
Cobalt is an essential trace element and daily intakes
am 30-60 Pg (0.5-1.0 unol) in children. Cobalt salts
are relatively non-toxic: and daily doses of 25-40 mg
cobalt have been used in blood disorders such as the
anaemia in renal failure and thalassaernia.
However, prolonged treatment may cause depression
of erythropoicsis, flushing, chest pain, dermatitis, tinnitus,
nausea and vomiting, nerve deafness, thyroid hyperplasia,
myxoedema, congestive cardiac failure, and renal damage.
In this boy, who took about 2 g cobalt chloride, toxicity
manifested as gastrointestinal effects and neutropenia.
Jacobziner and Raybin' described a 19-month-old boy
who took about 30 m! of cobalt chloride solution. He
became cyanotic and died 4 h after the ingestion.
Necropsy revealed little about the primary cause
of death. The liver, kidneys, and spleen contained
89-4 mg cobalt. Serum cobalt levels were not
measured. In 1988 Everson et al' described a
14-year-old girl who ingested about 96 mg cobalt
from a chemistry set. A blood sample, 12 h after
ingestion, contained 1320 nmol/I cobalt and
chelation therapy was started; at 22 h her blood
cobalt level was 119 nmol/l.
Beer drinkers' cobalt cardiomyopathy was first
noted in Quebec,[3] where 48 cases with
20 deaths were recognised. Further cases
were reported from the United States
and Belgium. Cobaltous sulphate had been
added to the beer as a defoaming agent,
and this was thought to have been mainly
responsible for the acute myocardial damage,
" though nutritional factors may contribute by
increasing sensitivity to cobalt toxicity. [5]
Crystal-growing sets are potentially hazardous.
This boy's toy also contained copper sulphate,
and half a teaspoon of that would have been fatal.
During preparation of this report one of us
(H. T. D.) was involved in monitoring four
schoolboys who ingested small amounts of
copper sulphate from a chemistry set. Clearly
urgent action is needed to control the use of
these sets. Everson et al [2] investigated
three chemistry sets, containing a total of
51 chemicals. Of 38 chemicals evaluated
66% were present in amounts that would
be toxic (53%) or lethal (13%) to a
2-year-old child. Only one set had child-proof
containers but for 65% of potentially toxic
and all the potentially lethal chemicals first-aid
instructions were provided.
E. S. MUCKLOW
S. J. GRIFFIN
Paediatric Department,
St Mary's Hospital,
Newport Isle of Wight P030 5TG UK
H. TREVOR DFLVES
B. SuatAK
Trace Element Unit
Department of Clinical Biochemistry
Southampton General Hospital
1. Jacobzmer H, Raybin HW. Poison control: accidental cobalt poisoning. Arch
Pediatrics 1961; 7114- 200-05.
2. Everson GW, Norman SA, Casey JP. Chemistry set chemicals: an evalulation of their
potential. Vet Hum Toxicol 1988 30:589-92
3. Morin YL, Foley AR, Martineau G, Rossel J. Quebec beer drinkers' cardiomyopathy:
forty-eight cases Can Med Assoc 1967; 97:881-43.
4. Morin Y, Daniel P. Quebec beer drinkers' cardiomyopathy. etiological considerations.
Can Med Assoc 1967; 97.926-28.
5. Alexander CS. Cobalt-beer cardiomyophy: a clinical and pathological study of twenty
eight cases. Am J Med 1972,53:395-417.
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LanthanumK
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That is a lot of crystals for such a small boy to ingest and although he got severe poisoning, they were able to take care of it easily. Copper
sulfate has a higher LD50 (300 mg/kg) than cobalt chloride, so why would it be more toxic?
It is better to teach children that they should not consume chemicals than to phase them out.
hibernating...
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Mailinmypocket
International Hazard
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If the mother had suspicions that the kid may have added something extra to the drink she told him to make, and knew he had crystal growing kits... It
might not have been a good idea to tell him to drink it himself. I'm also pretty sure that the kit in question says to be used under adult
supervision. Accidents happen yes, but this could have been avoided!
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