Toxicovigilance. Prevention

WHO: 
Toxicovigilance
Toxicovigilance is an essential function of poison information centres. It is the active process of identifying and evaluating the toxic risks existing in a community, and evaluating the measures taken to reduce or eliminate them. Analysis of enquiries received by centres permits the identification of those circumstances, populations, and possible toxic agents most likely to be involved, as well as the detection of hidden dangers. The role of a centre in toxicovigilance is to alert the appropriate health and other authorities so that the necessary preventive and regulatory measures may be taken. For example, the centre may record a large number of cases of poisoning by a specific product newly introduced to the local market; cases occurring in a particular population group (e.g. analgesic poisoning in children); or cases occurring in particular circumstances (e.g. carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty heating stoves) or at particular times of the year (e.g. mushroom poisoning in the autumn or snake bites in the summer). Only now is the unique role of poison information centres in toxicovigilance being widely recognized. This role enables them to make a major contribution to the prevention of poisoning through their collaboration with the health and other appropriate authorities. Section 5 gives further details on this aspect of their work.

Prevention
Drawing on its observations and experience, a poison information centre can contribute to the prevention of poisoning by:
*alerting responsible authorities to circumstances where the risk of poisoning is high so that appropriate preventive measures may be taken, including: drawing the attention of various users of toxic chemicals to the risks involved, introducing codes of practice or legislation to control the labelling of toxic products or special packaging to reduce the risk of exposure to toxic substances, and modification or withdrawal of products from the market;
*encouraging manufacturers to employ less toxic formulations and to improve the packaging and labelling of their products;
*informing the general public, as well as special groups at risk, about recognized or emerging risks to the community posed by the use, transport, storage, and disposal of specific chemicals and natural toxins, and giving guidance on how to avoid exposure to, or accidents with, these substances; means such as brochures, leaflets, posters, educational programmes, and campaigns in the media may be employed, but should not arouse unjustified false anxieties and should take due account of local psychosocial and cultural circumstances;
*giving special warnings to professional health care workers concerning specific toxic risks.
The role of poison information centres in prevention of poisoning is described further in Section 5.