1 Associate Pediatrician, Cook County Childrens Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
In the September issue of Pediatrics (36: 322, 1965) Dr. Charles Whitten reported his experiences in the use of Desferrioxamine-B, an iron specific chelating agent, in children with acute iron poisoning. He stated that the iron-desferrioxamine complex was toxic to dogs.
Since the complexing of desferrioxamine and ferrous salts is a logarithmic progression after binding 50% of the serum iron in excess of the iron-binding protein it is most likely that the dogs died of the effects of iron poisoning.