POINSETTIAS AREN'T POISONOUS AFTER ALL: NEW RESEARCH

Dec 21, 2017

By Jane Brown

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Are poinsettias really poisonous?

Sure as sugarplums, myths and misconceptions pop up every holiday season, and science has an answer to some common ones.

Poinsettias are not nearly as harmful as a persistent myth says.

Mild rashes from touching the plants or nausea from chewing or eating the leaves may occur but they aren’t deadly, for humans or their pets.

According to a Western Journal of Emergency Medicine research review, the plants’ toxic reputation stems from a single unconfirmed death of a two-year-old in Hawaii in 1919.

Dr. Rachel Vreeman, an Indiana University pediatrician, cited a study on more than 20,000 poison control centre reports involving contact with poinsettias.

She says in none of those cases were there deaths or serious injury.

(The Associated Press)

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