Prime eligible poisons: identification of extremely hazardous substances available on Amazon.com^®

Abstract

Background: Widespread use of the Internet has increased availability of numerous products. Multiple published cases highlight that toxic xenobiotics are available for purchase online. Most cases describe purchase from the deep web. We sought to identify extremely hazardous substances available from an online retailer.

Methods: Over a 10-month period, the online retailer Amazon.com^® was searched for each of the products listed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s “List of Extremely Hazardous Substances.” Product names, availability on Amazon Prime^®, need for a business account, price, and quantity were collated.

Results: We identified 79/340 (23.2%) of these substances were available on Amazon.com^®. Almost one-third of the available substances were eligible for Amazon Prime^®. Approximately one-third of the products were available in an amount that could be toxic by purchasing a single unit (31/79). Of these 31 products, only four required a business account, 18 were eligible for Amazon Prime^®, and nine were neither eligible for Prime nor required a business account. Notable products include sodium azide, acrylamide, mercuric acetate, and hydrazine.

Conclusions: The ease of purchase and ready availability of such highly toxic substances is concerning. Online retailers like Amazon.com^® should consult with toxicologists or other qualified experts and governmental agencies to identify which products should be removed or restricted to business accounts.

Keywords:

• Internet
• poisoning
• extremely toxic

Disclosure statement

The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest.