Maryland Poison Center, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2020 Jan;58(1):45-48. doi: 10.1080/15563650.2019.1594870. Epub 2019 Apr 30.
Widespread use of the Internet has increased availability of numerous products. Multiple published cases highlight that toxic xenobiotics are available for purchase online. Most cases describe purchase from the deep web. We sought to identify extremely hazardous substances available from an online retailer. Over a 10-month period, the online retailer Amazon.com was searched for each of the products listed by the Environmental Protection Agency's "List of Extremely Hazardous Substances." Product names, availability on Amazon Prime, need for a business account, price, and quantity were collated. We identified 79/340 (23.2%) of these substances were available on Amazon.com. Almost one-third of the available substances were eligible for Amazon Prime. Approximately one-third of the products were available in an amount that could be toxic by purchasing a single unit (31/79). Of these 31 products, only four required a business account, 18 were eligible for Amazon Prime, and nine were neither eligible for Prime nor required a business account. Notable products include sodium azide, acrylamide, mercuric acetate, and hydrazine. The ease of purchase and ready availability of such highly toxic substances is concerning. Online retailers like Amazon.com should consult with toxicologists or other qualified experts and governmental agencies to identify which products should be removed or restricted to business accounts.
互联网的广泛使用增加了众多产品的可获得性。多个已发表的案例强调，有毒异生物可在网上购买。大多数案例描述的是从深网购买。我们试图从一家在线零售商那里确定可获得的极其危险物质。在 10 个月的时间里，在亚马逊网站上搜索了美国环境保护署“极其危险物质清单”中列出的每种产品。收集了产品名称、在亚马逊 Prime 上的可用性、是否需要企业账户、价格和数量。我们发现 340 种中的 79 种（23.2%）可在亚马逊网站上购买。近三分之一的可用物质有资格获得亚马逊 Prime。大约三分之一的产品可购买单个单位就会有毒（31/79）。在这 31 种产品中，只有 4 种需要企业账户，18 种有资格获得 Prime，9 种既不符合 Prime 条件也不需要企业账户。值得注意的产品包括叠氮化钠、丙烯酰胺、醋酸汞和肼。购买如此剧毒物质的便利性和现成可用性令人担忧。像亚马逊这样的在线零售商应该咨询毒理学家或其他合格的专家和政府机构，以确定应删除或限制哪些产品使用企业账户。
