From plants and animals to pesticides and even seemingly innocent household products, our world is filled with harmful, even deadly poisons. Last week, Rotarians learned a bit more about the importance of educating ourselves about poisoning and its treatment. Dr. John Fisher, Director of the Alabama Poison Center, spoke to the Club. Rotarian Mark Heinrich introduced the speaker.

The Alabama Poison Center is a telephone information resource for both the public and health care professionals throughout Alabama. Staffed by qualified nurse specialists trained in toxicology, its members provide support for specialists in treating poison related illness.

The Center takes a remarkable 40,000 calls a year, an average of some 800 a day. Most dangerous in his experience, said Fisher, are what he called the “Demon Under the Kitchen Sink” (the toxic mix of cleaners and household chemicals often found there) and common pesticides, which are too often stored in innocent drinking containers, leading to accidental poisoning.

Other odd categories of poison treatment that the Center has confronted include debris from accidents (including the space shuttle crash of 2002), as well as potential flu pandemics radioactive poisoning, and the dangers of chemical or biological terrorist attacks.

Also dangerous of late is the rash of “poisonings” through overdose on pain killers—the death rate of which is now on par with auto accidents—as well as other unregulated drugs like synthetic cabbanoids bath salts, which Fisher described as “a life threatening drug that will kill you in a matter of weeks.” A big part of the battle is education and awareness, said Fisher, and the poison control center is doing all it can. “Kids need to know not to fool with this stuff.”

For more information, visit www.alapoisoncenter.org.