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Under the Sinkhousehold product safety notes: labels, storage and safer use at home
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Official help: poison centers and emergency numbers

If someone may have swallowed, breathed in, or got a household product on their skin or in their eyes, call now. Do not wait for signs, and do not look for advice online first. Have the product or its label with you when you call, because the people on the line will ask what it is.

If the person is unconscious, having trouble breathing or having a seizure, call the emergency number (911, 999 or 112) straight away.

Under the Sink is a reading site. We are not a poison center or an emergency service and we cannot help with an exposure by message. The services below are run by health services and poison centers. We checked each contact on the organization's own website.

United States

  • Poison Help: 1-800-222-1222. Free and confidential, available 24 hours a day. The call is routed to the poison center that serves your area. Source: the National Capital Poison Center.
  • Emergency: 911.

United Kingdom

  • NHS 111 for urgent advice when you are not sure what to do.
  • 999 or A&E if someone may have swallowed, touched or breathed in something and is unwell, unconscious, struggling to breathe or having a seizure. Source: NHS, poisoning.

Ireland

  • National Poisons Information Centre, public line: 01 809 2166, 8am to 10pm every day. Source: poisons.ie.
  • Emergency: 112 or 999.

European Union

  • 112, the single European emergency number, works free of charge from any phone in every EU country. Source: European Commission, 112.
  • Each country also has a poison center or several regional ones. European product labels may carry a 16-character UFI code near the label: read it out when you call, because it lets the center identify the exact mixture.
  • Austria: Vergiftungsinformationszentrale (VIZ), run by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, 01 406 43 43 (from abroad +43 1 406 43 43), 24 hours. Source: goeg.at.

Canada

  • Each province or territory is served by a poison centre. The Ontario Poison Centre keeps a list of Canadian poison centres with each one's number.
  • Emergency: 911.

Australia

  • Poisons Information Centre: 13 11 26, 24 hours a day from anywhere in Australia. Source: healthdirect.
  • Emergency: 000.

New Zealand

  • National Poisons Centre: 0800 764 766 (0800 POISON), free, 24 hours a day. Source: poisons.co.nz.
  • Emergency: 111.

Pets

For a pet, call your vet first. In the US, ASPCA Animal Poison Control answers around the clock; a consultation fee may apply.

Before anything happens

Two habits make that phone call faster. Save the poison center number in every phone in the house, and keep products in their original containers so the label is there when someone asks what was in the bottle. Our articles on keeping chemicals in their original containers and childproofing the cupboard under the sink go through both.

If you notice a number on this page that has changed, please tell us so we can correct it.