Newly Discovered Risk for Jewish Children at Passover: Paraffin Oil Lamps

AP ^ | April 3, 2004

[nuconvert]

Newly Discovered Risk for Jewish Children at Passover: Paraffin Oil Lamps

Apr 3, 2004

By Verena Dobnik/ Associated Press Writer/

NEW YORK (AP) - As Jewish families prepare for Passover, their toddlers face a newly discovered danger: poisoning from the lamp oil that lights up their holy days, according to a study released this month. The risk of paraffin oil poisoning among Orthodox children in New York is 370 times higher than in the general population, according to the study, published in this month's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

"The lamps have a metal tube that serves as a wick. And when the lamp is not lit, the tube looks like a perfect straw to a child," said Dr. Robert J. Hoffman of Manhattan's Beth Israel Medical Center, who led the study.

Hoffman noticed that on many Fridays when he worked for the city's Poison Control Center, urgent calls came in for children who had swallowed the oil.

"It turned out they were Jewish," Hoffman said, "and the accident often happened during Sabbath," from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday, or on Jewish holidays like Passover, which this year begins on Monday.

In addition to the lamp itself, the plastic nozzle of the container from which the oil is poured poses an equal danger of being mistaken for a straw.

The oil can trigger coughing, vomiting, inflammation of the lungs and lethargy, Hoffman said. One girl had to be put on a respirator for weeks.

Hoffman and three other researchers reviewed all exposures to paraffin lamp oil reported in New York between Jan. 1, 2000, and Feb. 1, 2003, among the almost 2 million city children under 18. More than 40,000 of those are Orthodox Jews.

Of a total of 45 cases of oil poisoning, 32 involved Orthodox Jewish children whose average age was under 2. Nine of the 45 children could not be identified by religion.

None died, but most had to receive medical treatment.

In Jewish tradition, bread, wine and a burning flame mark the observation of holy days.

"There are non-Jews who use paraffin lamp oil, but some Jews use the oil religiously every week and therefore, their children are in greater danger." said Hoffman.

According to the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, almost 200,000 New Yorkers are strictly Orthodox, the largest such population outside Israel. Other areas with significant Orthodox populations include Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto

[dvan]

I can see where this might go. The govt. might intervene to prevent them from pbserving Passover with the use of the oil lamps. Consumer Protection Agency.

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[TASMANIANRED]

This is a case of a way too narrow study group.
Every year we have a multitude of cases involving oil lamps. Most of them are during the holidays (Christmas decorations). Aside from the oil lamps there are kerosene exposures from space heaters. In the summer it is gas cans for lawn equipment.

They are all hydrocarbons. They all carry the risk of aspiration pneumonitis. Getting too specific on the product actually makes the problem more vague rather than clearer.

Actually the paraffin is more like mineral oil, a laxative and the ingredient in baby oil than it is to the more dangerous solvent hydrocarbons like kerosene. They need to include the baby oil exposures in this as well.

If this little piece was truely objective it would have to compare the number of exposures with symptoms from the paraffin group ,to the solvent hydrocarbon products with symptoms.