An anti-flea treatment for animals is used as an anti-lice. However, this product can be toxic to toddlers.
While fipronil has caused much ink to flow after the contaminated egg scandal, the website of L’Obs reveals the tendency of some parents to use an antiparasitic containing the same molecule to get rid of the lice which colonize the heads of their children. “In desperation I put this product … radical”, writes Loulouz on the Rescue online forum. “One application was enough. My children never had lice again. When a lice epidemic breaks out at school, I apply the product for prevention,” wrote another mother on the forum of Onmeda.fr.
Normally intended to remove fleas from dog and cat hair, the flea spray called Frontline has a powerful and effective composition, but also potentially harmful to humans. In 2014, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) clearly indicated in a statement that a veterinary product cannot be used on a human under any circumstances, and even less on a child.
“Following a new report on the use of veterinary products to treat lice in children, ANSES wishes to reiterate that an antiparasitic, insecticide or acaricide treatment intended for companion animals should under no circumstances be administered to a human, a fortiori to a child “.
Vomiting, irritations, neurological problems …
If the phenomenon is not new, it remains nonetheless worrying. Indeed, several poison control centers have reported numerous poisonings following the use of Frontline on a human: vomiting, irritation … and even sometimes neurological problems, reports theObs.
However, even if you do not use Frontline on your children, the danger is not minimal if you have a dog or cat in the house and administer the product to them. Indeed, an experiment carried out byObs in 2015 reported the presence of endocrine disruptor Fipronil in 63 strands of hair in children under 12 years of age.
They had inhaled fipronil while playing with their pet. It is therefore important that parents ensure that their children do not come into contact with an animal if it has just been treated.
100 times more fipronil than in contaminated eggs
In comparison with the case of the contaminated eggs, the Frontline would contain 100 times more fipronil. According to ANSES, only doses ingested in large quantities could prove to be toxic to humans: “the rare observations of convulsions noted in the international literature are linked to ingestions of large quantities of this type of product.” This would therefore potentially be the case with this product.
But let parents at their wit’s end be reassured: there are effective solutions to treat lice. A new treatment has recently been made available. In addition, the products containing an activator with the actizoryte would be easier to use and would thus guarantee a better effectiveness.
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