Andy Dolan
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
November 20, 2008

Daniel Hurley, 12, who collapsed and died in his bathroom 'after using too much deodorant'

A boy of 12 collapsed and died after using 'copious' amounts of deodorant in a cramped bathroom, an inquest heard.

Daniel Hurley was overcome by solvents in the Lynx Vice spray and his heart began to beat irregularly, the hearing was told.

His father Robert found him collapsed in the bath at the family home after spraying on too much of the deodorant.

Mr Hurley said he had desperately tried to revive Daniel but the schoolboy died in hospital five days later from cardiac arrhythmia - or abnormal heart rhythms.

He told the inquest in Derby on Wednesday that Daniel 'was always putting gel on his hair and spraying deodorant'.

Mr Hurley told the inquest he had been making tea while his son used the bathroom at their home in Sandiacre, near Nottingham.

'The bathroom is adjacent to the kitchen and I shouted to see if he was OK,' he said. 'I heard nothing so I shouted again but did not get a reply.

'I forced the door open and found Daniel in the bath. I checked for his heart rate and his breath but he was not breathing.'

An ambulance took Daniel to Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre. He died five days later on January 12 this year.  

Consultant pathologist Dr Andrew Hitchcock, who carried out a postmortem examination on Daniel, said he found no evidence of substance abuse. There was also no evidence of any life-threatening disease, alcohol or drugs in Daniel's body.

'What we have in this case is someone who may well have had a cardiac abnormality in the presence of the solvent,' Dr Hitchcock said.

'There is a very reasonable assumption that the passive inhalation of the solvent almost certainly led to his death.'

Coroner Dr Robert Hunter recorded a verdict of accidental death, giving the cause as 'cardiac arrhythmia, exacerbated by exposure to solvents'.

He said he was satisfied that Unilever, the manufacturer of Lynx, gave enough warning on its cans that excessive amounts of aerosol deodorant should not be used in confined spaces.

Lynx cans warn that the product should be kept out of the reach of children, adding: 'Use in well ventilated places, avoid prolonged spraying.'

However, Dr Hunter said: 'I do not know how many people read the warnings about exposure awareness.

'People need to know about the risks that these products have.'

A spokesman for Re-Solve, a charity fighting solvent abuse, said it was the first case they were aware of in which somebody died as a result of accidental exposure to solvents in aerosol cans.

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Link to original story here.