Are mothballs harmful to humans?

In fact, many people may use mothballs in their daily lives, but they should also pay attention to the adverse effects and harm it may cause to the human body, because it may cause some symptoms of poisoning. Especially for infants and young children, they should not come into contact with these items.

1. Symptoms of poisoning

Naphthalene is cheaper than camphor and is used to synthesize camphor instead of natural camphor to make mothballs. Synthetic camphor is made from turpentine and is very similar to natural camphor. Synthetic mothballs containing naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene have a pungent smell. Paradichlorobenzene is toxic and can cause symptoms of poisoning in humans, such as fatigue, dizziness, headache, diarrhea, etc.

2. Avoid use in infants and young children

Do not put mothballs in newborn babies’ clothes. The main ingredient in mothballs is naphthol, which is highly volatile. When people wear clothing that has been exposed to mothballs, naphthol can enter the bloodstream through the skin. Normal adults have glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) in their red blood cells. This enzyme can quickly combine with volatile naphthol to form a non-toxic substance that is excreted from the body with urine. Therefore, naphthol will not have a significant effect on adults. But newborns,

There is very little glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in red blood cells. When a newborn wears clothes stored with mothballs, naphthol can easily enter the red blood cells in the body, destroying a large number of red blood cells and causing acute hemolysis. The main manifestations are rapid anemia, severe jaundice and strong tea-like urine. Severe cases can cause heart failure. Severe jaundice can be life-threatening due to kernicterus, or leave varying degrees of intellectual disability, movement disorders, etc. After placing mothballs on adult clothes, they should be exposed to the sun for a while before being worn. Wait until the smell of naphthol disappears before wearing to avoid neonatal hemolysis after contact with newborns.

3. Carcinogens

Camphor balls containing paradichlorobenzene and naphthalene are pesticide products and are generally used to prevent moths in industrial or agricultural products. Not suitable for daily use. A large amount of practice has proved that benzene substances are extremely harmful to human health. Therefore, the World Health Organization has classified it as a strong possible carcinogen.