|
Are
Poinsettias Poisonous?
Poinsettia Phobia Continues to Dampen the Holiday Spirit. Fifty
percent of Americans still believe poinsettias are toxic
If the Ghost of Christmas Present were to look into our living
rooms today, he'd find that we're more afraid of poinsettia
poisoning than of finding coal in our stockings. According to a
recent national poll, half of Americans mistakenly believe that
poinsettias are toxic.
"It's a testament to the persistence of myths," says
Paul Bachman, marketing chairman of the Society of American
Florists (SAF). "Poinsettias simply are not toxic. That was
proven 23 years ago in scientific tests and we want to set the
record straight."
For
nearly eight decades, this rumor has continued to circulate
because of one unfounded story in 1919: that an Army officer’s
two year old child allegedly died after eating a poinsettia
leaf. While never proved by medical or scientific fact and later
determined to be hearsay, the story has taken on a life of
it’s own. But, the defenders of the poinsettia have pulled out
all the scientific stops to allay public fears.
In fact, no other consumer plant has been as widely tested as
the poinsettia. Researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) have
measured the effects of ingesting unusually high doses of all
parts of the plant (including the leaves, stems and sap) and
found the plant to be non-toxic. OSU researchers established
that rats exhibited no adverse effects – no mortality, no
symptoms of toxicity, and no changes in dietary intake or
general behavior patterns – when given even unusually large
amounts of different poinsettia parts. The United States
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) accepts animal tests
as valid indicators whether any product or natural growth is
harmful to human health.
According
to POISINDEX (R), the information resource used by the majority
of U.S. poison control centers, a 50-pound child would have to
eat more than 1.25 pounds of poinsettia bracts (500 to 600
leaves) to exceed the experimental doses that found no toxicity.
That's not to say you should eat one, though. Like other
non-food items, if ingested, the poinsettia may cause some
stomach discomfort -- but nothing more. According to the American
Medical Association’s Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious
Plants, other than occasional cases of vomiting, ingestion
of the poinsettia plant has been found to produce no effect.
Despite
sound evidence to the contrary, the poinsettia phobia continues.
A recent Bruskin/Goldring Research poll of 1,000 Americans
commissioned by SAF found that 50 percent of those polled said
they believed poinsettias are toxic if eaten. Only 16 percent
correctly know that they are not. Another 34 percent said they
don't know. Some respondents more misinformed than others
The myth is widespread, but some population segments are even
more likely than others to be believers. Women out-believe men
by a wide margin -- 57 percent of women said they believe
poinsettias to be toxic, compared to 42 percent of men.
Americans aged 25 to 49 are also more likely to suffer
poinsettia phobia than those aged 50 and over. Geography also
seems to play a role. Americans living in the Northeast believe
the myth in higher numbers (57 percent) than those living in the
west (44 percent).
The Power of Speech
If Americans aren't getting this misinformation from science
journals, where is it coming from? Among people who believe that
poinsettias are toxic, 43 percent said they learned it by
"word of mouth." Not far behind was the media, cited
by 37 percent.
Poinsettias pass the test
The original source of this myth? Hearsay. For nearly eight
decades, this rumor has continued to circulate because of one
unfounded story in 1919: that an Army officer's two-year-old
child allegedly died after eating a poinsettia leaf. While never
proved by medical or scientific fact, and later determined to be
hearsay, the story has taken a life of its own. But the
defenders of the poinsettia have pulled out all the scientific
stops to allay public fears.
SAF worked with the Academic Faculty of Entomology at OSU to
exhaustively test all parts of the poinsettia (Euphorbia
pulcherrima). OSU researchers established that rats exhibited no
adverse effects -- no mortality, no symptoms of toxicity and no
changes in dietary intake or general behavior patterns -- when
given even unusually large amounts of different poinsettia
parts. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
accepts animal tests as valid indicators whether any product or
natural growth is harmful to human health.
...and more tests
The OSU research was conducted 23 years ago, and other sources
have continued to reinforce the poinsettia's safety.
According the the American Medical Association's Handbook of
Poisonous and Injurious Plants, other than occasional cases of
vomiting, ingenstion of the poinsettia plant has been found to
produce no effect.
After reviewing all available poinsettia-related information,
the CPSC denied a petition in 1975 to require warning labels for
poinsettia plants.
Perfectly harmless, perfectly holiday
Despite its continued circulation, the myth of the poinsettia is
gradually losing steam. "It may just have to run its
course," says Bachman. "But we do want people to know
that there's absolutely no reason to miss out on this favorite
holiday plant. Spread the word."
|
