The Effects of Administration of an Emetic on Paraquat Toxicity / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

There have been hardly any cases of paraquat poisoning during normal use of paraquat as a herbicide, but there have been a number of deaths or cases of serious poisoning due to ingestion of paraquat products as the result of suicidal intent or accidents, and the survival rate is extremely low. To prevent the occurrence of paraquat poisoning, some experiments have been conducted in which emetics were added to paraquat products.<BR>In this study, we determined the efficacy of including Triazolopyrimidine compound (pp) as an emetic in a paraquat product, when it was orally administered to dogs under the starved (condition A) or unstarved (condition B) conditions. When paraquat was orally given to the dogs (40 mg/kg body weight) under condition A, emesis occured four to six hours after the dosing. However, in the case of giving a dose of the mixed solution of paraquat and pp (PQ 40mg/kg, pp 2mg/kg), vomiting took place after four to six minutes (vomited rate of PQ 86.4%) and seven to twenty minutes (vomited rate of PQ 61.2%) under conditions A and B respectively. The average survival period in the case of the paraquat dosing was fifteen days and six days under conditions A and B respectively. However, in the case of giving a dose of the mixed solution of paraquat and pp, it was more than 20 days and 12.7 days under conditions A and B respectively.<BR>The results of the experiment suggest that the inclusion of emetics is one of the effective means of preventing paraquat poisoning. As the amount of ingested paraquat is usually large in the case of suicidal intention, it is conceivable that an amount greater than the lethal dose will remain in the gastrointestinal system even if the emetic included in the paraquat produces vomiting in patients. Since the inclusion of emetics in paraquat products leads to an early occurrence of vomiting in the victim, the chances of finding him or her earlier should be increased. This would, in turn, make earlier treatment possible.