Poisonings Number of calls to the Swiss poison control hotline continues to rise
More and more people in Switzerland are calling the emergency number because of poisoning. Almost half of the inquiries last year concerned children and young people, according to initial figures from the Tox Info Suisse foundation.
27.01.2026, 08:30
27.01.2026, 19:23
SDA
On average, 123 people contacted the emergency number 145 per day. According to the Tox Info Suisse foundation, the volume of calls has recently grown by two to four percent annually, and last year by as much as 4.6 percent. This was reported in a press release on Tuesday.
Tox Info Suisse provided a total of 44,736 consultations in 2025. 40 percent of the cases concerned inquiries about children of pre-school age - almost always about accidents. A further six percent of calls concerned adolescents. In these cases, however, the focus was on intentional poisoning, Tox Info Suisse reported.
As in previous years, the poison control center was most frequently called in 2025 for intoxication with medicines and household products. Seventy percent of inquiries came from the general public, while the remainder were made by healthcare professionals.
In the 2025 winter session, Parliament approved the necessary funding to ensure the continued operation of the Swiss Poison Helpline this year. The foundation now needs to secure medium and long-term funding from the federal government, the statement continued.
