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- CHICAGO (Reuters) - Children or pets who swallow a penny should be monitored
to see if they pass the coin, because newer pennies are predominantly made
from zinc, which can cause ulcers or other problems, a researcher said
Monday.
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- ``Most pennies will pass through the
body quickly and harmlessly, and it would take more than one penny to cause
serious damage,'' said Sara O'Hara, a pediatric radiologist at Duke University
Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. ``But as in the case of one toddler
we X-rayed, a penny that stays in the stomach can cause an ulcer and discomfort
within a matter of days. In animals, the problem can be more serious,''
she said in a report to the annual meeting of the Radiological Society
of North America.
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- Ingesting zinc can cause vomiting and
health problems ranging from ulcers and anemia to kidney, liver and bone
marrow damage, she said. But the harm from swallowed pennies only seems
to apply to pennies minted in 1982 or after. In an experiment, the Duke
researcher bathed 18 pennies in stomach acid, six of which were minted
before 1982 and 12 minted in 1982 or later.
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- The pre-1982 coins showed no changes
after a week in the acid and were found to be 95 percent copper and 5 percent
zinc. But the newer coins -- which were 97.6 percent zinc and 2.4 percent
copper -- had been stripped of their copper coating and had holes in the
zinc cores after just two days in the acid. O'Hara said zinc reacted with
stomach acid to form hydrogen gas and zinc chloride, which could lead to
the formation of ulcers within days.
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- ``If the coin does not show up in the
stool within two days and the child or pet starts having stomach problems
-- potentially even vomiting blood -- an immediate visit to the emergency
room or veterinarian is warranted,'' O'Hara said. Unwanted objects in the
stomach can be removed with an endoscope, a tube inserted through the mouth.
Children made 21,000 trips to emergency rooms last year after swallowing
one or more coins.
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