Human poisoning with spinosad and flonicamid insecticides

Abstract

<jats:p> This report describes the first known case in the literature of acute exposure to a mixture of spinosad and flonicamid that resulted in a substantial clinical toxicities. An 80-year-old depressed female attempted suicide by drinking a mixture of 80-mL Conserve (Dow AgroSciences, Taipei, Taiwan) and 2–3 gram powder of flonicamid (Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Taipei, Taiwan). Spinosad was the main compound ingested. The clinical manifestations were mostly neurological, i.e. consciousness disturbance, shock, respiratory failure, pneumonitis and urinary retention. Endoscopic examination found grade 2a corrosive esophageal injury. After resuscitation, detoxification procedures and intensive care, the patient recovered fully without leaving any chronic sequels. An emerging question arising from this report is, why are the clinical symptoms so severe, given that both compounds were claimed safe in laboratory animals? The answer is unclear. One possible explanation is, the amount of spinosad ingested was far beyond the physiological safety dose that can be handled by human body. Other potential contributors to the clinical toxicities in this patient are the solvent compositions that were found in the Conserve insecticide formulation. </jats:p>

A Preliminary Report Showing Spinosad and Fluralaner Are Able to Incapacitate Cimex lectularius L., the Common Bed Bug

“…However, there have been no human clinical trials of oral fluralaner or spinosad reported in clinicaltrials.gov or published in PUBMED.gov. There is only one case report of an intentional overdose of spinosad [26]. If fluralaner is ever shown to be safe, in humans it could then be further evaluated for its ability to harm C. lectularius.…”

Environmental health: acute problems

“…Nové generace agrochemikálií, zejména pesticidů, jsou stále šetrnější k životnímu prostředí a snižuje se i toxicita k necílovým organismům. Nicméně zdravotní rizika stále existují, zejména nejsou-li dodržovány doporučené dávky nebo dojde-li k technologické nekázni při používání těchto prostředků (Su et al, 2011). Pesticidy jsou častou příčinou smrtelných otrav (Kurisaki et al, 2010).…”

Spinosad for Treatment of Head Lice Infestation

“…However, there is a report of human poisoning with the environmental insecticide formulation of spinosad. 20 The case involved an 80-year-old female who intentionally ingested 80 mL of spinosad 11.6%. Although the patient experienced a disturbance of consciousness, shock, and respiratory distress, she survived the ingestion with no chronic sequelae.…”