@article{ref1,
title="Radiopacity of household deodorizers, air fresheners, and moth repellents",
journal="Journal of toxicology - clinical toxicology",
year="1993",
author="Woolf, Alan D. and Saperstein, A. and Zawin, J. and Cappock, R. and Sue, Y. J.",
volume="31",
number="3",
pages="415-428",
abstract="Household deodorizers and moth repellents are common agents implicated in many childhood poisonings. Their ingredients usually include either paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene compressed into a solid ball or another shape, sometimes with added essential oils and fragrances. Because medically naphthalene is a more important toxin than paradichlorobenzene, with hematologic and nervous system effects, clinicians often seek to discern which product has been ingested. We discovered fortuitously that a mothball swallowed by a retarded adult was radiopaque, and so designed an in vitro experiment to study the radiopacity of a variety of household deodorizers and products. Of 10 products screened for radiopacity by two radiologists, those containing paradichlorobenzene were consistently strongly radiopaque; those containing naphthalene were radiolucent. A third alternative ingredient which is used in some toilet bowl deodorizers, cetrimonium bromide, was also radiopaque. Radiopacity of paradichlorobenzene or cetrimonium bromide-containing products did not dissipate with time. We speculate that the halogen within the chemical structure of these compounds accounts for their radiopacity. We conclude that paradichlorobenzene-containing commercial products can be distinguished clinically from those containing naphthalene by the performance of an abdominal radiograph.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0731-3810",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}