Back in July, I reported on a rash of folk drinking thier Tiki Torch Oil, mistaking it for Apple Juice. And, came up with a handy little guide to tell whether you are drinking apple juice or oil.
It just so happens, a few weeks after posting that, I happened to leave a jug of my citronella oil out. Alec (5) walks up to me and asks what it is. I figured it was the perfect test to see just how bad you’ld have to be to make this mistake, so I said I didn’t know, and asked him what it was.
“It’s oil for your fires” was the response.
“You sure it’s not apple juice?”
“No, it’s oil”
“I think it’s apple juice, maybe we should drink it.”
“No, look, there’s fire on it, and it says “oil””.
So…my 5 year old could tell the difference…
While stopping at the store after work, I grabbed the last of the torch oil I need for the year. And, I noticed a new addition to the bottles. A nice, big, new sticker has been added to the bottles. “DO NOT DRINK” it reads, with a big “no” symbol over a glass, right at the spout.
Lamplight Farms, I solute the effort, however, if they aren’t already noticing the current labeling, I’m doubtfull the new sticker will help much. And, apparantly, this is even more common than I thought!
About 70 cases of torch fuel ingestion were reported over a two year span in Illinois, and several West Virginia residents also fell ill from swallowing the product.
70 cases, in Illinois alone? My hell, people!
Lamplight Farms says it best:
Lamplight Farms provides these warnings and utilizes child-resistant closures on all our oil bottles. The oil bottles still must be kept out of reach of children and once the oil is poured from the bottle into an oil lamp, the oil lamp must be kept out of reach of children. Lamplight relies on parents as partners in our efforts to prevent accidental ingestion of lamp oil.
A good comparison of the 2 in a cup can be found over here.