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Huffing Mothballs
Leads to Serious Health Problems
As reported in the
New England Journal of Medicine
Young people have been
inhaling household products to get high for some time. Many parents have heard
and heeded the warnings about glue, spray paint, computer cleaning products and
dozens of other common substances.
Now, according to reports summarized in the New England Journal of Medicine,
some teens on the international front are huffing mothballs for a high.
Mothballs, used to prevent moth larva from getting into clothing, contain
paradichlorobenzene (also found in air fresheners and insect repellents) that
can cause liver and kidney failure, and severe anemia.
Reuters News
Agency provided the following story about a young
woman suffering the affects of mothball abuse:
The 18-year-old
French woman was hospitalized with scaly skin on her legs and hands, appearing
unsteady and mentally sluggish, doctors said. They found the condition
puzzling, especially because the woman's twin sister displayed similar, but less
severe, symptoms and there was no family history of the problem, the doctors
reported in the June 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Several days later, doctors discovered the cause: a bag of mothballs stashed in
her hospital room. The teenagers had been using the mothballs to get high,
inhaling air from the bag for about 10 minutes a day because classmates had
recommended it.
The sicker of the young women also had been chewing half a mothball a day for
two months.
The teenager told the doctors that she continued to use the mothballs during her
hospitalization "because she thought her symptoms were not related to her
habit," said Lionel Feuillet at the Hospital of Timone in Marseille, France.
The sicker of the women took six months to recover fully. Her twin, who had
only been "bagging" for a few weeks, recovered after three months.
Parents should know that abusing
the chemical in mothballs –either through huffing or ingestion - can cause
mental sluggishness, unsteady walking, and
skin rash. Learn more about the dangers
surrounding huffing here.
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