Does camphor have any effect on babies?

The physical health of the baby is of great concern to many adults, but carelessness or some small accidents in life may easily have a direct impact on the health of the child. Many people have the habit of putting mothballs in their closets. Although this can prevent insects, some people ignore the fact that mothballs may also cause adverse reactions to humans. So does camphor have any effect on babies? Find out more.

1. Impact

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. Newborns have very little glucose phosphate dehydrogenase in their red blood cells. When the newborns wear clothes that have been 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.

2. Harm of mothballs

It is difficult to find pure natural mothballs on the market. Most of them are synthetic mothballs or naphthalene balls made from dichlorobenzene. Dichlorobenzene can be ingested through the respiratory system and cause damage to the human nervous and blood systems. Excessive exposure can lead to skin cancer and leukemia. It has a greater impact on pregnant women and children. If ingested by mistake, it can even cause death. Naphthalene is also a very strong carcinogen that can interfere with the redox process of red blood cells, hinder the production of some important substances, affect and destroy the integrity of red blood cells, and lead to hemolytic anemia. Long-term exposure can cause laryngeal cancer, stomach cancer, etc. Therefore, you need to take your woman to have her gastric lavage as soon as possible to remove the harmful ingredients as soon as possible. If left unchecked for a long time, it may even affect the physical development of the child.

3. Others

"Camphor balls" (sanitary balls) are processed from organic matter extracted from petroleum or coal tar. Their main components are naphthalene, paradichlorobenzene and chemical camphor, which are aromatic hydrocarbons. It is highly volatile and has certain toxicity. Naphthalene was banned by the National Environmental Protection Organization as early as the 1990s, and paradichlorobenzene has been classified as a strong carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

Camphor balls can cause hemolytic jaundice in young children, vomiting and anemia during pregnancy, fetal defects, dry skin, hair loss, and even allergic eczema in adults with poor immunity. Long-term use for more than 10 years can cause fatal granulocytopenia, and even chronic cancer. Women are more sensitive than men.