ANALYTICAL COMPARISON OF PARAFFIN-LABELED HIGH TOXIC LAMP OILS WITH PARAFFINUM PERLIQUIDUM (DAB-10)

Coloured and odoriferous lamp oils available as household articles rep eatedly lead to ingestion intoxications in children in some cases resu lting in a bad course. Labels on containers of lamp oils are misleadin g, e.g. ''pure liquid paraffin'' or ''without noxious substances'', ca using considerable misconceptions during therapeutic use by treating d octors. Analyses of four arbitrary chosen lamp oils by GC and GC/MS sh ow that the main components (approx. 98%) are the unbranched saturated hydrocarbons n-decane, n-undecane, n-dodecane, n-tridecane, n-tetrade cane. Tests according to the German Pharmacopoeia 10th ed. prove also that ''paraffin''-labelled products are not at all identical with medi cal/pharmaceutical paraffinum perliquidum or liquidum. Lamp oils are l ow viscous and high toxic petroleum distillates and should be labelled ''toxic to humans''