Report Toxicovigilance Biocides 2020

The Belgian Poison Centre carried out a toxicovigilance study on biocides on behalf of the FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment. It analysed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number and nature of calls, in 2020, related to disinfectants for human hygiene purposes (product-type 1) and disinfectants for surfaces (product-type 2). 

Since the start of the lockdown in spring 2020, the Poison Centre has received significantly more calls. The most notable increase is the number of accidents involving disinfectants: for type 1 biocides, there is a fivefold increase in the number of calls compared to 2018-2019. For type 2 biocides, the number of calls has doubled. The Poison Centre is mainly contacted for exposures in adults, followed by children in the age group of 1-4 years. You can read the full report here.