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BgVV information pamphlet "Toxic plants in the home and in their natural environment" published

08/1999, 19.05.1999

In the home and garden plants create a pleasant climate; they form oxygen and are an important part of human and animal nutrition. But not everything which blooms and grows in the garden, house or in its natural environment is harmless. Some of the particularly attractive decorative plants like for instance monkshood are highly toxic and can prove fatal when corresponding volumes are ingested. Others like for instance heracleum can cause painful blisters on contact particularly when exposed to sunshine.

Unfortunately, knowledge about the plants and more particularly about which plants in our latitudes are toxic is increasingly dwindling amongst the population at large. For instance certain plants like the rowan or mahonia are deemed to be highly toxic although they are almost harmless. Others which do constitute a risk like the daphne or the thorn apple are unknown to many people which means there is a risk when they swallow fruit, seeds or leaves from these plants.

All the same, poisonings caused by plants are relatively rare. Nevertheless, the Central Registration Unit for Poisonings in the Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine is notified again and again about small children who have ingested fruit or other parts of toxic plants.

The BgVV information pamphlet "Toxic plants in the home and in their natural environment" would like to contribute to avoiding poisonings of this kind and to providing advice as to what should be done when parts of toxic plants are ingested. It contains 51 colour pictures of plants, a description of the plants and a classification with respect to their toxicity. There is a comprehensive description of the symptoms which can occur in conjunction with the intake of toxic parts. This means that the information pamphlet is also a guide for parents when designing their own garden in order to limit the risk of poisonings of children by avoiding planting toxic plants of this kind. In no way does the information pamphlet call for the destruction of toxic plants. Far more it would like to identify risks and to take corresponding precautionary measures for instance by placing the pot with the oleander out of the reach of small children.

The information pamphlet "Toxic plants in the home and in their natural environment" can be ordered in writing or by fax on 030/8412-4970 at a cost of DM 5 from the Press and Public Relations Office of the Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicines.

Furthermore, there are two new publications in the series of the BgVV-Hefte: Issue 01/1999 "The breakdown, classification and labelling of components in petroleum refining with carcinogenic potential" and Issue 02/1999 "The influence of irradiation on medicinal products and excipients". A Study of the Literature, Part XI". The pamphlets can be obtained at a cost of DM 15 from the BgVV Press and Public Relations Office.

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