Abstract

In biology, poisons are substances that can cause death, injury or harm to organs, tissues, cells, and DNA usually by chemical reactions or other activity on the molecular scales, when an organism is exposed to a sufficient quantity. The primary mission of poison control centres has always been an improvement in the poisoned patients’ care and poison prevention. The need to reach this mission implies that many functions and roles must be accomplished. Many centres, even in developing countries, are multifunctional and provide a broad toxicological information service. However, the main challenges of poison centres in developing countries are still treatment information, formal training, laboratory services accessibility and availability of antidotes. In the future, PCs will continue to have a leading role to play in the health protection of the population. Therefore, of particular importance is their mobilisation to stabilise the traditional activities, to initiate new activities, to acquire new skills in toxicology, methodology and quality assurance, to recruit and to train new staff and to find adequate funding to sustain and expand their operations.