1 Poison Control Officer, Department of Emergency Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center, Fifth and Portland South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
In reading the recently published article by Dr. Alexander Pierce on salicylate poisoning, I noticed what appears to be an oversight on the part of the author. Dr. Pierce recommends giving syrup of ipecac followed by a charcoal slurry and then repeating the ipecac in 20 minutes if vomiting has not yet occurred. It is widely known that activated charcoal will adsorb ipecac and retard its emetic activity. Drs. Corby and Decker,2 in the same issue, refer to this interaction in discussing the use of activated charcoal.