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Commercial Glue Sniffing and Child Health: Indian Street Children are at a Risk

DOI:10.4172/2332-0893.1000e108
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Nandan Kumar Mondal at Baylor College of Medicine
Nandan Kumar Mondal
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Journal of Biosafety & Health Education
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Journal of Biosafety & Health Education
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Digital Object Identier: http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/jbhe.1000e108
Volume 1 • Issue 3 • 1000e108
J Biosafety Health Educ
ISSN: JBHE an open access journal
Editorial
Open Access
Biosafety & Health Education
Mondal, J Biosafety Health Educ 2013, 1:3
http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/jbhe.1000e108
Children are the source of hope and inspiration for the society. at
is why they have the right to be brought up in a positive environment.
But there are many children in the world who have become synonymous
with social deprivation at its worst. Children who are working and living
on the streets are found throughout the nation. Street children constitute
a marginalized population in most urban centers of the world. ere are
major diculties in trying to estimate the number of street children
and the magnitude of hardship they experience. In their marginalized
state they constitute a truly “hidden” population who were not covered
by nor nd place in the national census, educational or health data,
largely because they have no xed address [1]. is problem is further
compounded by the fact that they are also a highly mobile population.
However, it is speculated that between 100,000 and 125,000 children
live on the streets and railway stations of India’s major cities, and that
more than half of them have some form of drug addiction.
Street boys living at dierent Indian railway stations of West
Bengal, take care of themselves and each other in an otherwise uncaring
environment and surviving through begging, petty the or hawking
goods on the platforms. Most of the paltry sum they earn is spent on
tobacco or on tube of Glue (locally known as ‘Dendrite’ which is an
industrial contact adhesive and rubber cement brand marketed as
glue sticks, tubes and cans in India and South Asia, mainly in Eastern
India, Bangladesh and Bhutan) that is a particular favorite with those
children. is golden colored industrial glue (oen called as ‘golden
glue’) containing organic solvents is cheap and readily available and
provides faster onset of action and the regular ‘high’ [2,3]. Investigators
believe that the addicts can be exposed to several thousand parts per
million (2,000-30,000 ppm) of organic solvents within a few minutes
[4]. e kids squeeze Glue onto a rag and hu its fumes through the
mouth.
Although these products are not classied as drugs because they
are not intended to be used to achieve intoxication, young children and
adolescents can easily obtain them and are among those most likely
to abuse them [5]. Besides addiction, they’re usually victims of abuse
and harassment, and are extremely vulnerable to tracking, sex trade
and child labor [6]. Inhalant abuse/dependence has been reported from
various parts of the world [7-10]. Drug usage among minors has created
a global generation of addicted and oen abandoned children bere of
family support, education and social skills. ere are epidemiological
reports indicating that chronic exposure to abuse solvents can produce
loss of appetite [5]; however, the mechanisms involved in these eects
are not well understood. It’s sad that kids would come to that.
Our previous reports suggested that tobacco smoking and/or
chewing habit among street boys is associated with increased frequency
of micronucleus and γ-H2AX foci formation in oral mucosa, implying
chromosomal and DNA damage respectively [11]. Additional habit of
sning/hung of industrial glue enhances the severity of genotoxic
changes in buccal epithelial cells of these children. We also observed
marked increase in argyrophilic nuclear organizer region (AgNOR)
in buccal epithelial cells of glue-addicted children, suggesting up-
regulation of ribosome biogenesis in these cells [12]. Taken together,
these studies indicate genetic changes in oral mucosa of street boys
in association with tobacco and glue sning or hung habit. So it
is necessary to campaign biosafety and health education programme
explaining the adverse health eects of inhalant abuse by the young
futures throughout the nation. Genetic markers could provide a useful
means of detecting early mutagenic events for assessing cancer risk
associated with inhalant abuse which is quite prevalent in developed
countries also. In the United States, for example, nearly 20% of young
persons have experimented with inhalants at least once by the time they
are in eighth grade and the mean age of rst-time inhalant abuse is
13 years [13]. More importantly, children who abuse inhalants early in
life are more likely later to use other illicit drugs. us inhalant abuse
intervention programs seem important from the community health
perspective also.
References
1. Benegal V, Bhushan K, Seshadri S, Karott M (1998) Drug Abuse Among Street
Children in Bangalore. Monograph Funded by CRY.
2. Basu D, Jhirwal OP, Singh J, Kumar S, Mattoo SK (2004) Inhalant abuse by
adolescents: a new challenge for Indian physicians. Indian J Med Sci 58: 245-
249.
3. Seth R, Kotwal A, Ganguly KK (2005) Street and working children in Delhi,
India, misusing toluene: an ethnographic exploration. Subst Use Misuse 40:
1659-1679.
4. Marjot R, McLeod AA (1989) Chronic non-neurological toxicity from volatile
substance abuse. Hum Toxicol 8: 301-306.
5. Inhalants (2004) National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health,
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
6. Gupta SK, Bali S, Jiloha RC (2009) Inhalant abuse: an overlooked problem.
Indian J Psychiatry 51: 160-161.
7. Weir E (2001) Inhalant use and addiction in Canada. CMAJ 164: 397.
8. Ramon MF, Ballesteros S, Martinez-Arrieta R, Torrecilla JM, Cabrera J (2003)
Volatile substance and other drug abuse inhalation in Spain. J Toxicol Clin
Toxicol 41: 931-936.
9. Thiesen FV, Barros HM (2004) Measuring inhalant abuse among homeless
youth in southern Brazil. J Psychoact Drugs 36: 201-205.
*Corresponding author: Nandan Kumar Mondal, Articial Organ Laboratory,
Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 10 South Pine
Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA, Tel: 410-706-4549; Fax: 410-706-0311;
E-mail: nkmondal@smail.umaryland.edu
Received
May 12, 2013; Accepted May 16, 2013; Published May 18, 2013
Citation: Mondal NK (2013) Commercial Glue Snifng and Child Health: Indian
Street Children are at a Risk. J Biosafety Health Educ 1: e108. doi:10.4172/
jbhe.1000e108
Copyright: © 2013 Mondal NK. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.
Commercial Glue Sniffing and Child Health: Indian Street Children are at a
Risk
Nandan Kumar Mondal*
Articial Organ Laboratory, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA
Page 2 of 2
J Biosafety Health Educ
ISSN: JBHE an open access journal
10. Wu LT, Pilowsky DJ, Schlenger WE (2004) Inhalant abuse and dependence
among adolescents in the United States. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
43: 1206-1214.
11. Mondal NK, Ghosh S, Ray MR (2011) Micronucleus formation and DNA
damage in buccal epithelial cells of Indian street boys addicted to gasp ‘Golden
glue’. Mutat Res 721: 178-183.
12. Mondal NK, Ghosh S, Ray MR (2011) Quantitative analysis of AgNOR proteins
in buccal epithelial cells of Indian street boys addicted to gasp ‘golden glue’.
Exp Toxicol Pathol 63: 677-681.
13. McGarvey EL, Clavet GJ, Mason W, Waite D (1999) Adolescent inhalant abuse:
environments of use. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 25: 731-741.
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Citation: Mondal NK (2013) Commercial Glue Snifng and Child Health: Indian Street Children are at a Risk. J Biosafety Health Educ 1: e108.
doi:10.4172/jbhe.1000e108
Volume 1 • Issue 3 • 1000e108
Citation: Mondal NK (2013) Commercial Glue Snifng and Child Health: Indian
Street Children are at a Risk. J Biosafety Health Educ 1: e108. doi:10.4172/
jbhe.1000e108
... It is the firm view that if people are more informed about the lifestyle of these children, they may be more sensitive to their needs. Mondal (2013) holds the firm view that "Children are the source of hope and inspiration for the society." He further insists: "That is why they have the right to be brought up in a positive environment"". ...
... He further insists: "That is why they have the right to be brought up in a positive environment"". This perspective by Mondal (2013) is crucial, but it is completely contrasting when one tries to arrive at a conceivable definition of street children. There exist many definitions on the grounds that different countries construe them in several ways. ...
... Sanjay et al. (2019) support this position and further claim that the phenomenon of street children is very common in many cities of Nepal. Mondal (2013) also believes that this difficulty exists because these children are marginalized and form a "hidden" population. He states that this issue is further exacerbated since the population often fluctuates. ...
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... Quantitative data collected from the field are sorted. Mondal (2013) firmly believes that children are a source of hope and inspiration for society. "Therefore, they have a right to grow up in a positive environment." ...
... This perspective of Mondal (2013) is important but completely contradictory when trying to arrive at a possible street-her definition of children. [10] There are many definitions as different countries interpret them in different ways. So, it's very complicated to formulate the exact one for them. ...
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... (Nandan Kumar Mondal, 2013) There is study suggested that children who starts abusing inhalants or other solvents in early stages of life they are more likely later to use other illicit drugs in their future. Thus, inhalant abuse intervention programmes seem important from the community health perspective also (Mondal, 2013). ...
... (Nandan Kumar Mondal, 2013) There is study suggested that children who starts abusing inhalants or other solvents in early stages of life they are more likely later to use other illicit drugs in their future. Thus, inhalant abuse intervention programmes seem important from the community health perspective also (Mondal, 2013). ...
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Aim: The aim was to determine the prevalence of glue-sniffing among street children. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted. Background: Children are the source of hope and could be the major ailments for the development of society, nation and the world but there are large numbers of children on the street sniff glue and struggling with multiple disease and uncertain future. Methods: A study was conducted in 52 street children to determine the prevalence of glue-sniffers and its impact on street children in Butwal, municipality of Nepal. This study was conducted in 52 street children, 5- point Likert scale and interview schedule was performed with the help of structured and semi-structured questionnaire to collect data. Finally, the collected data are analysed by using descriptive statistical methods such as frequency, percentage and mean. Results: The study findings revealed that a large number of children, that is 40.38% was between the age group of 9-12 years and 92.31% were male. The current prevalence of glue-sniffing among street children is 88.46%. Similarly, 58.7% of respondents had started glue-sniffing 1 year ago. Out of 46 respondents who sniffed glue, 89.13% were unaware of its effect. Nearly, half of the respondents 45.65% had encountered health issues such as headache, chest pain and stomach ache. Conclusions: They have deprived children and denied not only of their rights as children but also of their normal childhood. Without guidance, education and security, they are heading towards an uncertain future. They can have enough potentiality and talent if they are brought into a better environment and might have real hope for the bright future.
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... It has been noted that sniffing of glue and other volatile substance abuse increased the risk of addiction to other substances. 21,22 Though this is one of the few studies which tries to provide insight into the characteristics of street children who are engaged in glue sniffing and its health consequences, this study has its limitations. ...
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Introduction: Glue sniffing usually refers to volatile substance abuse (VSA) for psychoactive effects. Street children are the children who live, work, and earn their livelihood through the streets of urban settlements. Street children are mostly attracted to substance abuse and more particularly towards volatile substances as they are cheap, easy to access and have psychoactive effects as alcohol intoxication. This study aimed to assess the general characteristics of street children of Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal who are addicted to glue sniffing. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among street children who were addicted to glue sniffing through the snowball sampling method in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal. Results: All 88 children who were addicted to glue sniffing were males. Of the total children, 59 (67%) children started glue-sniffing at the age of five to ten years of age while nine (10.2%) children started sniffing even before they were five years old. Addiction to glue (n = 33, 37.5%), pleasure (n = 18, 20.5%)), coping with hunger (n = 14, 15.9%), and being a part of street children group (n = 13, 14.8%) were the major reasons to sniff glue for these children. Conclusions: It has been observed that the majority of street children are at increased risk of getting involved in glue sniffing. It has resulted in different ill outcomes such as self-destruction and problematic behavior, fights and police arrest. There is a need to focus on the issue of glue sniffing among the street children to save and ensure the quality of life of these vulnerable children.
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... 26 Another meta-analysis study by Mondal states that streets boys living in railway platforms and footpaths of West Bengal, Bhutan, Bangladesh were addicted to glue tubes, cans and rubber cement (type of adhesive) are favorite particulars of children. They also demonstrated that sniffing or huffing of glue/adhesive enhance the genotoxic affect in epithelial cells of mucosa of these children which suggest that there might be genetic alternations that may cause mutagenic events and cause cancers 25 . Another case illustrates a 22-year-old man covered his face with plastic bag having large amount of glue in it. ...
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... The age of initiation was between 10 and 13 for street children who commonly use and abuse substance like alcohol, cigarettes, inhalants, cocaine, marijuana, heroin, shoemakers glue, correction fluid, paint thinner; and coca paste (Nada KH et al.; Hillis SD et al.; Elkoussi A et al.) as quoted in Cumber SM et al. Young persons have experimented with inhalants at least once by the time they are in eight grade and mean age of first-time inhalant abuse is 13 years, McGarvey EL et al. as quoted in Mondal NK[23]. Sampasa-Kanyinga H et al.[24], some students reported having tried cannabis for the first time as early elementary school. ...
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DRUG ABUSE AMONG STREET CHILDREN (Case Study: Commercial Vans Casual Apprentices at Car Parks) Yahya Muhammed Bah* University of The Gambia, School of Arts and Sciences, Brikama Campus, The Gambia, West Africa *Corresponding author: yahyamuhammed@yahoo.co.uk Abstract In The Gambia like all nations, drug abuse is seen as a social and health problem that has many serious implications for the physical, social, psychological and intellectual development of the victims more especially, the children. Therefore, it continues to be a concern to families, community leaders, educators, social workers, health care professionals, academics, government and its development partners. Though there are some studies on drug abuse, there is none on children and drug abuse focusing on the street children the most vulnerable category. Street children are hypothesized to be more at risk of any epidemic including drug abuse. This study sought to determine the risk and prevalence of drug abuse among street children focusing on those in the car parks. The research was focused on six critical areas: level of knowledge of drug abuse, perception towards it, level of knowledge of the causes of it in the community and among street children, level of knowledge of negative impacts of it, level of knowledge of the preventive methods; and level of knowledge of the support services and treatments needed by victims. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from thirty five participants (i.e. one driver and six casual apprentices from each of the five car parks) were interviewed. The data was presented and analyzed using tables and percentage. The findings revealed among other things, that there is high level of awareness of drug abuse but the feelings towards it are mixed. Like other children, street children are abusing drugs mainly due to peer influence with the ultimate objective of getting high to relief stress, group recognition, desire to be trusted by peers, etc. Similarly, participants are highly aware of the negative impacts encompassing fighting, stealing, mental illness, etc. To finance the behavior, victims are engaged in all types of dangerous antisocial behavior including romantic ones exposing them to a range of diseases including STIs and HIV/AIDS. Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug. Though in the minority, some have started experimenting cocaine/coke, hashish; and heroin. While participants have good knowledge of the critical methods to fight drug abuse, the support services needed by victims, victims are mostly reluctant to seek the services not only because they are hard to find but fear societal stigmatization, exclusion and discrimination and professionals’ maltreatment. Keywords: drugs, abuse, street children, casual van apprentice; and commercial van driver.
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In The Gambia like all nations, drug abuse is seen as a social and health problem that has many serious implications for the physical, social, psychological and intellectual development of the victims more especially, the children. Therefore, it continues to be a concern to families, community leaders, educators, social workers, health care professionals, academics, government and its development partners. Though there some studies on drug abuse, there is none on children and drug abuse focusing on the street children the most vulnerable category. Street children are hypothesized to be more at risk of any epidemic including drug abuse. This study sought to determine the risk and prevalence of drug abuse among street children focusing on those in the car parks. The research was focused on six critical areas: level of knowledge of drug abuse, perception towards it, level of knowledge of the causes of it in the community and among street children, level of knowledge of negative impacts of it, level of knowledge of the preventive methods; and level of knowledge of the support services and treatments needed by victims. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from thirty five participants (i.e. one driver and six casual apprentices from each of the five car parks) were interviewed. The data was presented and analysed using tables and percentage. The findings revealed among other things, that there is high level of awareness of drug abuse but the feelings towards it is mixed. Like other children, street children are abusing drugs mainly due to peer influence with the ultimate objective of getting high to relief stress, group recognition, trusted by peers, etc. Similarly, participants are highly aware of the negative impacts encompassing fighting, stealing, mental illness, etc. To finance the behaviour, victims are engaged in all types of dangerous antisocial behaviour including romantic ones exposing them to a range of diseases including STIs and HIV/AIDS. Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug. Though in the minority, some have started experimenting cocaine/coke, hashish; and heroin. While participants have good knowledge of the critical methods to fight drug abuse, the support services needed by victims, victims are mostly reluctant to seek the services not only because they are hard to find but fear societal stigmatization, exclusion and discrimination and professionals’ maltreatments.
View
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In The Gambia like all nations, drug abuse is seen as a social and health problem that has many serious implications for the physical, social, psychological and intellectual development of the victims more especially, the children. Therefore, it continues to be a concern to families, community leaders, educators, social workers, health care professionals, academics, government and its development partners. Though there are some studies on drug abuse, there is none on children and drug abuse focusing on the street children the most vulnerable category. Street children are hypothesized to be more at risk of any epidemic including drug abuse. This study sought to determine the risk and prevalence of drug abuse among street children focusing on those in the car parks. The research was focused on six critical areas: level of knowledge of drug abuse, perception towards it, level of knowledge of the causes of it in the community and among street children, level of knowledge of negative impacts of it, level of knowledge of the preventive methods; and level of knowledge of the support services and treatments needed by victims. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from thirty five participants (i.e. one driver and six casual apprentices from each of the five car parks) were interviewed. The data was presented and analyzed using tables and percentage. The findings revealed among other things, that there is high level of awareness of drug abuse but the feelings towards it are mixed. Like other children, street children are abusing drugs mainly due to peer influence with the ultimate objective of getting high to relief stress, group recognition, desire to be trusted by peers, etc. Similarly, participants are highly aware of the negative impacts encompassing fighting, stealing, mental illness, etc. To finance the behavior, victims are engaged in all types of dangerous antisocial behavior including romantic ones exposing them to a range of diseases including STIs and HIV/AIDS. Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug. Though in the minority, some have started experimenting cocaine/coke, hashish; and heroin. While participants have good knowledge of the critical methods to fight drug abuse, the support services needed by victims, victims are mostly reluctant to seek the services not only because they are hard to find but fear societal stigmatization, exclusion and discrimination and professionals’ maltreatments.
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Inhalant abuse by adolescents: A new challenge for Indian physicians
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Inhalant abuse has been commonly reported especially in the young during the last decades globally. The reason for the relative paucity of literature from India may be attributed to a lack of knowledge about this growing problem among health professionals. A series of five cases of inhalant abuse is described in order to understand this growing public health concern. Most of the cases started inhalant abuse during adolescence. All patients except one abused typewriter erasing fluid and thinner which contains toluene. All the patients reported using inhalants as addictive substance because of their easy accessibility, cheap price, their faster onset of action and the regular 'high' that it provided. Whereas several features of inhalant dependence were fulfilled, no physical withdrawal signs were observed. The diagnosis of inhalant abuse can be difficult and relies almost entirely on clinical judgment. Treatment is generally supportive.
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Inhalant Abuse and Dependence Among Adolescents in the United States
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To examine the patterns of inhalant use and correlates of the progression from inhalant use to abuse and dependence among adolescents aged 12 to 17. Study data were drawn from the 2000 and 2001 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse. Multinominal logistic regression was used to identify the characteristics associated with progression to inhalant abuse and dependence. Inhalant use was common among the studied adolescents. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 0.4% met DSM-IV inhalant abuse or dependence criteria in the past year. Inhalant abuse and dependence affected adolescents regardless of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and family income. The progression from inhalant use to abuse or dependence was related to early first use, use of multiple inhalants, and weekly inhalant use. Adolescents with inhalant use disorders reported coexisting multiple drug abuse and dependence, mental health treatment, and delinquent behaviors. Adolescents with an inhalant use disorder may represent a subgroup of highly troubled youths with multiple vulnerabilities. Because early use is associated with progression to abuse and dependence, prevention programs should target elementary school-age children.
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Micronucleus formation and DNA damage in buccal epithelial cells of Indian street boys addicted to gasp 'Golden glue'
Article
Genotoxicity of glue sniffing/huffing and tobacco use has been examined in 302 street boys (median age 13 years) and 50 age-matched control school boys who were neither tobacco nor glue users. All the street boys were tobacco users. In addition, 155 were addicted to gasp an industrial adhesive popularly known as 'Golden glue'. Micronucleus (MN) frequency was determined as a measure of chromosomal breakage in exfoliated buccal epithelial cells (BECs) and DNA double strand breaks were quantitatively assessed by counting γ-H2AX foci using immunofluorescence microscopy. Micronucleated cell frequencies (MCFs) in BEC of glue non-addicted (only tobacco) and addicted (tobacco plus glue) street boys were 1.87 ± 1.06‰ and 4.04 ± 2.55‰ respectively, which were significantly higher than that of control (0.32 ± 0.11‰, p<0.0001). Similarly, the numbers γ-H2AX foci in nuclei of BEC were 2.3- and 5.2-times more than control in glue non-addicted and addicted street boys respectively (p<0.0001). Spearman's rank correlation revealed a strong positive association between years of glue addiction with MCFs and γ-H2AX foci numbers, and the association between glue addiction and chromosomal and DNA damage remained positive and significant after controlling income, spending on addiction and loss of appetite as potential confounders in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Thus, addiction to tobacco among the street children in India is associated with chromosomal and DNA damage in BECs and the severity of these changes is significantly increased by the habit of sniffing/huffing of industrial glue.
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Quantitative analysis of AgNOR proteins in buccal epithelial cells of Indian street boys addicted to gasp ‘golden glue’
Article
The effect of glue snuffle on the expression of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs), an indicator of ribosome biosynthesis, in epithelial cells of oral mucosa has been investigated. AgNOR was evaluated by cytochemical staining in 148 Indian street boys (median age 12 year) who had different bad addictions like tobacco smoking, chewing and most importantly inhaling glue and 20 age- and body mass index-matched school boys who had no such type of bad habit. Compared with school boys, glue addicted street boys showed remarkably increased number of AgNOR dots per nucleus (9.38±1.84 vs. 3.12±0.87, p<0.001), AgNOR size (1.34±0.52 vs. 0.43±0.02 μm(2), p<0.001) and percentage of AgNOR occupied nuclear area (9.38±2.12 vs. 0.99±0.03%, p<0.001). Increase in number and size of the dots is also higher in tobacco smokers and chewers when compared with school boys but a remarkable difference was recorded in glue addicted boys. The changes in AgNOR expression were positively associated with years of addiction after controlling potential confounders. Thus, glue snuffle appeared to be a risk factor for abnormal cell growth via up-regulation of ribosome biogenesis.
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Chronic Non-neurological Toxicity from Volatile Substance Abuse
Article
1 Most of the evidence for chronic non-neurological toxicity from volatile substance abuse is derived from case reports. 2 Factors important in assessing these reports are the marked variations in exposure conditions and in the composition of the products abused. 3 In a young and otherwise healthy population, any chronic organ toxicity arising from VSA has to be gross in order to become clinically apparent. This may partially explain the relatively low incidence of reporting. 4 Toluene and the chlorinated hydrocarbons 1,1,1-trichloroethane and trichloroethylene can cause permanent damage to the kidney, liver, heart and lung, in certain volatile substance abusers.
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Adolescent Inhalant Abuse: Environments of Use
Article
  • Dec 1999
A questionnaire survey of 285 consecutively recruited adolescents who were adjudicated to juvenile correctional facilities in Virginia was conducted using the Inhalant Use Questionnaire (1). White youths (36.1%) and youths from other ethnic backgrounds (44.4%) are significantly more likely to report past inhalant use than black youths (1.4%). The median age reported for first-time use of inhalants is 13 years. Youths were divided between those who experimented with inhalants (27%) and those who were heavy users (27%). Huffing was preferred by 60% of youths. Of the youths, 52% reported using inhalants with friends present, whereas 34% used inhalants when they were alone. Sites where youths reported inhalant use include at a friend's home (68%), at home (54%), on the street (40%), at parties (28%), on school grounds (26%), and at school (18%). There are no gender differences in age of onset of inhalant use, lifetime frequency of inhalant use, frequency of inhalant use in the past year, or preferred method of using inhalants. The five substances most frequently used as inhalants include gasoline (by 57.4%), Freon (40.45%), butane lighter fluid (38.3%), glue (29.8%), and nitrous oxide (23.4%). There were no gender differences for use of other products.
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Street and Working Children of Delhi, 1 India, Misusing Toluene: An Ethnographic Exploration
Article
  • Feb 2005
Our qualitative study explored: the perceptions of street children indulging in whitener fluid misuse; the social, economic, and cultural determinants of use; and users' views regarding effective preventive and control strategies. Forty-five in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted between March and December 2003. A purposive sample of those working children who were using toluene was selected by Snowball sampling. The paper discusses the: determinants of initiation and continued use; drug user social networks; psycho emotional deprivation and frustrations of these children; socio-cultural aspects like work driven need; others' attitudinal response towards them and their work; parental support or the lack of it; and strategies for prevention of this misuse.
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