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ACCIDENTAL poisoning under any circumstances
is an unfortunate event. However,
when such an occurrence follows the ingestion
of poisonous material which is readily available
to the public without being designated a dangerous
substance the event becomes tragic. Methyl
salicylate (oil of wintergreen) is a drug which
falls into the latter category. It may be purchased
at any drug store without signature and
without precautionary labels of either "poison"
or "for external use only". It is, further, a
substance used frequently as a household liniment
and not uncommonly as a flavouring
medium in foods.
With the general impression being that the
drug is innocuous, it is not surprising to find
that parents have permitted a child to play with
a bottle of the oil. They are dumbfounded to
learn that the child, should he swallow it in the
course of a typical childish investigation of the
substance, has indeed swallowed a substance
which is as likely as not to produce a fatal result.
The following cases of methyl salicylate
poisoning are being reported to bring again to
the fore the potentially fatal properties of the
drug.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC538133/pdf/canmedaj00221-0064.pdf
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