Exploring the flammability of emollients and skincare products
Dr Sarah Hall, Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University, Leicester, and Miss Kirsty Blackburn and Ms Jo Morrissey, School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, report on their research findings on the dangers of emollients and the campaign to raise awareness with the NFCC.
The ability of emollients and other related skincare products to act as a fuel has been understood for some time, and there have been unconfirmed reports by practitioners for even longer.
In 2001, correspondence in the British Journal of Dermatology suggested the significant contribution of white soft paraffin cream-soaked dressings in a fire where a patient suffered 12 per cent burns after accidental ignition when smoking. Six years later, the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) released a warning about fire hazards associated with paraffin-based skin products, based on 50 per cent paraffin content or above, after a fatality of a patient in a care setting.
Read the full article on our digital issue, pages 57-59.
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