Pediatric pesticide poisoning in the Carolinas: an evaluation of the trends and proposal to reduce the incidence.

Studies from North and South Carolina on hospitalizations following pesticide exposure have shown that about 30% involve children. During 1990-1993, 29% of North Carolinians hospitalized for pesticide poisoning were children. Between 1971 and 1996, 28% to 37% of the patients hospitalized following pesticide exposure in South Carolina were children. Data from a South Carolina study, from the Association of American Poison Control Centers and the Vital Statistics of the US, suggest that pesticide poisonings in children are part of the overall problem of children being poisoned by household chemicals. Most poisonings occur in toddlers about 1-y-of-age. Pesticide-related fatalities in children have steadily decreased for the last 20-y while poisonings from other household chemicals have not decreased dramatically. The data suggest that increased public awareness of the risks of household chemicals could decrease that poisoning incidence.