Accidental poisonings are a leading cause of preventable injury and death in Canada

Each year in Canada, over 1,500 people lose their lives and nearly 8,000 are hospitalized due to unintentional poisoning from medications, cleaners, cannabis products, and many other household items.

Data from 2020 show that Canada’s poison centres managed 215,589 cases of which more than one-third involved a child aged 5 or under.  The most common substances involved in cases managed by poison centres were medications for pain relief (analgesics) and household cleaning products, such as bleach.

This National Poison Prevention Week which runs from March 19 to March 25, Canadians are encouraged to take careful steps to keep their loved ones safe by learning how to store potential poisons safely to prevent unintentional poisoning, as well as what to do in case a poisoning occurs.

Unfortunately, while there are currently nine different phone numbers used to access the five poison centres in Canada, many Canadians don’t know the phone number for their local poison centre or even that the service is available.

For this reason, Health Canada has launched a new toll-free number, 1-844 POISON-X, or 1-844-764-7669, in collaboration with four Canadian poison centres, to make it easier for people in Canada to access critical medical advice for poisonings.

This new easy-to-remember toll-free number will help save lives while also adding a layer of resilience to our health care system by reducing unnecessary visits to hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices.

By calling this number, Canadians will now be re-routed to their local poison centre regardless of where they are calling from in the country. The current provincial numbers remain in service and Canadians can continue using them.

The launch of this toll-free number is made possible through Health Canada’s investment in the Canadian Surveillance System for Poison Information (CSSPI), which helps aggregate, analyze, and interpret pan-Canadian poison centre information in near real time to inform poison prevention and harm reduction activities.

Additional information about safely buying, using, storing and disposing of drugs, health products and household chemical products, is available on the Health Canada website.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay