Symposium 29: Toxicovigilance to reduce poisoning and suicide
Tracks
Track 5
| Friday, July 17, 2026 |
| 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM |
Details
The most effective method to reduce suicide and poisoning is to restrict access to lethal means. Restricting access to dangerous substances reduces fatal accidental and intentional poisonings. While some substances can be identified as extremely hazardous before they are released, greater human toxicity is usually only identified after agents are in use. This session will highlight the benefits of active surveillance to identify substances with greater risks. This includes identifying more toxic pesticides, psychotropic medicines, novel illicit drugs and contaminated products.
Talks:
1) Reducing global suicide rates through pesticide restrictions in the Asia-Pacific region
2) The effect of means restriction on poisoning suicide - a systematic review & Poisons Centre driven scheduling changes
3) Detecting novel psychoactive substances resulting in hospitalisation and the EuroDEN project
4) Toxicovigilance for adulterated and counterfeit traditional medicines
5) Linking medicines data to deaths to identify drugs linked to suicide and fatal poisoning
Speaker
Dr Man-Li Tse
Hong Kong Poison Control Centre, Hospital Authority
Toxicovigilance for adulterated and counterfeit traditional medicines
Biography
Prof Michael Eddleston
The University of Edinburgh
Regulatory action on hazardous pesticides: Evidence from South Asia for suicide prevention
Biography
I am Professor of Clinical Toxicology at the University of Edinburgh, Honorary Consultant Physician and Pharmacologist at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and Clinical Lead for the UK National Poisons Information Service.
I trained in medicine at Cambridge and Oxford, completing a PhD at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla. While a medical student, I developed an interest in self-poisoning in rural Sri Lanka, leading to a year-long clinical trial and co-authoring the Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine. After basic medical training, I spent four years in Sri Lanka as a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow before completing specialist medical training in Edinburgh. I became a Senior Clinical Fellow and Consultant in 2009 and was appointed Professor in 2013.
I now lead an international research group focused on preventing deaths from acute poisoning while continuing clinical work at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Dr Rose Cairns
The University Of Sydney
The effect of means restriction on poisoning suicide - a systematic review & Poisons Centre driven scheduling changes
Biography
Dr Rose Cairns is a NHMRC emerging leadership fellow and senior lecturer in Pharmacy at The University of Sydney. She is also Director of Research at the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre. She is a practicing poisons information specialist, providing clinical advice to healthcare professionals and members of the public on poisoning. Her research focus is on intentional poisoning and suicide, and evaluating the impact of legislative changes on poisoning.
Dr David Wood
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Using the Euro-DEN Plus registry to detect the new psychoactive substances (NPS) associated with hospitalisation across Europe and in surrounding countries
Biography
Dr David Wood is a Consultant Physician and Clinical Toxicologist at the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s Health Partners and a Reader in Clinical Toxicology at King’s College London in London, UK. He has a research and academic interest in the epidemiology of use of and harms related to recreational drugs, new psychoactive substances and misused prescription medicines, and co-founded the European Drug Emergencies Network (Euro-DEN) Plus project and registry.
Session chair
Nick Buckley
University of Sydney
Rose Cairns
The University Of Sydney
