title: Preventing paraffin-related injury.
abstract: Paraffin (called kerosene in North America and other parts of the world) is the most commonly used fuel in ‎non-electrified dwellings worldwide. It is especially popular in Africa and South Asia. Although paraffin ‎offers many advantages-especially its comparatively low cost to produce-it poses two major risks of ‎injury. First, paraffin poisoning is common, either through ingestion or through inhalation of smoke and ‎fumes. Second, paraffin is highly flammable, and poses fire risk through multiple causes. This commentary ‎discusses strategies to prevent paraffin-related injury. Prevention of paraffin-related injury must be through ‎multiple strategies, and should include policy-oriented change, changes to the safety of home environments, ‎and behavioral changes targeting how individuals store and use paraffin and paraffin appliances. We review ‎successful prevention strategies in each of these domains and discuss appropriate research and community ‎initiatives that should be implemented to improve paraffin safety among at-risk populations. ‎
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. schwebel@uab.edu
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Schwebel
authors.forename: Dehran
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Swart
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000349:Africa; D001208:Asia; D002056:Burns / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007648:Kerosene; D009656:North America; D012449:Safety / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D007648:Kerosene