Journal of the Indian Society of Toxicology

Poisoning is an important and common medico-social problem causing significant morbidity and mortality throughout the world with an increasing number in India. Among all poisonings pesticide poisoning is the world leading one. Though, improvement in therapeutic patterns, it is difficult to identify the type of pesticide. Hence, we aimed in our study to analyse the type of pesticide poisoning consumed orally as poison possibly within a short period of time.

Validating the World Health Organization (WHO) standard methods of Analytical Toxicology.

A hospital based prospective analytical six months (from November 2017-April 2018) study conducted on patient's gastric lavage admitted to the department of Emergency Medicine. The gastric lavage was collected in a sterile container and filtered using filter paper for a clear solution which was analysed in the Analytical Toxicology laboratory by using TLC method and reports were documented.

Tests for detection of OrganoPhosphorus, OrganoChlorines and Pyrethroids were carried out by using TLC method with the help of UV chamber. The colour of the sample and the retardation factor values compared with the standard compounds and true positive results confirm the unknown pesticide compound present in the sample.

In our study we used WHO standard methods of analytical toxicology. TLC method helps in our analysis for reporting the results in short time period from the patients consumed pesticides orally with the help of their gastric lavage. Hence, the therapy can be started as soon as possible and the rate of mortality will be reduced.