Mothballs mothballed?
June 17, 2011
AUSTRALIAN experts have
renewed calls for a total ban on the
sale of mothballs (naphthalene
flakes), due to a link between
naphthalene exposure and brain
damage, disability and death in
infants.
The calls come on the back of the
Australian Pesticides and Veterinary
Medicine Authority’s decision to
suspend sales of naphthalene
flakes for domestic use last week.
One voice rising at the forefront
of the naphthalene argument is
that of Nick Evans, Associate
Professor in Neonatal Medicine at
the University of Sydney, who said
that the adverse risk/benefit ratio
for naphthalene in children,
particularly babies, provides strong
justification for its total withdrawal.
“In previously unpublished data
in the Medical Journal of Australia
in February we showed that NSW
and Victorian poisons agencies
each receive at least one call per
week about a child exposed to
naphthalene,” he said.
“That’s probably an underestimate
of the true rate of exposure”.
Naphthalene arguments are
raging around the world, with the
substance now having been totally
banned for European domestic use.
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