Canadians are accidentally poisoning themselves while trying to keep their homes and themselves clear of COVID-19. Health Canada numbers show a jump in the number of calls to poison centres across the country compared to this time last year.
From people experiencing burning eyes and trouble breathing to children drinking hand sanitizer, there’s been a jump in the number of cleaner and disinfectant-related accidental poisonings since the COVID-19 pandemic began, as Canadians try to keep themselves and their homes virus-free.
According to Health Canada, February and March combined showed a 58 per cent increase from the same period a year earlier in reported exposures related to cleaning products, bleaches, disinfectants, hand sanitizers, and chlorine and chloramine gases.
Poisonings involving bleach are most common, making up 38 per cent of all calls to poison centres in March.
The federal health agency attributes the increase to factors such as:
- More cleaning products in homes as people stock up in isolation.
- More exposure to those products as people clean and disinfect their homes more often.
- More time spent at home — including for children.
Jim Chan has seen the effects of cleaner- and disinfectant-related poisonings firsthand over the years.
During his 36 years as a City of Toronto public health inspector, Chan investigated cases where people unknowingly used a toxic combination of cleaning chemicals. Chan retired a few years ago and now works as a health consultant.
“One lady used a mixture of vinegar and chlorine bleach in a bucket trying to clean her counter at home and ended up in the hospital, because there was a large volume of chlorine gas being manufactured causing quite a bit of injury,” said Chan.
“In more serious cases, that could be fatal.”
Chan now has a Facebook page where people can post questions about how to clean safely.
WATCH | Jim Chan shows what makes a cleaning mix toxic:
Longtime health inspector Jim Chan demons