BOLTON'S public health chief has reassured parents after a national scare over the use of some of the most effective types of shampoos for treating headlice in children.

Parents are being warned against using some special insecticidal shampoos after claims by medical researchers that some of the lotions contain dangerous chemicals which could be absorbed through the scalp into the blood stream.

However Bolton's Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, Dr Robert Aston, believes that shampoos containing the organophosphate insecticide malathion are still the safest available on the market.

Bolton is one of at least 50 health authorities across the UK still recommending malathion's use.

According to last night's World in Action programme on ITV, chemicals in these shampoos can affect the nervous system.

Dr Aston, who assisted the programme makers, said that he had taken advice from a toxicologist before coming to his conclusions. "There have been only 26 reported side effects to malathion during more than 25 years of use. The insecticides selected for use on human beings are among the safest insecticides available."

However tests by the Government's Health and Safety Laboratories showed the amount of OP absorbed by anyone using malathion shampoo was five to 10 times higher than chemical workers who regularly come into contact with the substance.

An award winning firm Seton Healthcare based in Oldham makes several of the products including Derbac-M, Prioderm and Sudeo-M, containing malathion. The number of reported side effects recorded by the Adverse Drugs Reactions section of the Committee on Safety of Medicines is small.

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