Mum's warning after Rexona deodorant leaves teen with brain damage
A Queensland mum is pleading with parents to talk to their kids about chroming after her teenage daughter was found lying in bushland without a pulse.
Sarah Nevins says her 16-year-old daughter Chloe Rowe was inhaling toxic fumes from Rexona deodorant cans with her boyfriend on June 1 when she went into cardiac arrest, cutting off oxygen from her brain.
The worried mum told The Courier Mail this week Chloe was rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital with a hypoxic brain injury and remains restricted to a hospital bed more than a month later.
“I had no idea she was chroming, I didn’t even know that people did that,” Ms Nevins said.
“I would have had no idea that kids inhaled Rexona, but now I know it’s called Rexing. I thought chroming was with paint and glue.”
Chroming, also called solvent abuse, is when people attempt to get high by breathing in or inhaling a chemical like petrol, glue, paint or solvent, Melbourne's Care in Mind support service explained.
Ms Nevins said paramedics performed CPR on Chloe for almost 30 minutes before she was admitted to hospital.
The mum has since posted numerous photos and videos of her unconscious daughter with a tracheostomy tube in her neck fighting for life.
Footage posted on July 26 shows the teen is now awake and able to respond to voice commands, however she has a long road of recovery ahead, Ms Nevins said.
“It’s upsetting because you’re looking at a wasted life,” she told The Courier Mail.
“Her quality of life is going to be severely impacted for the rest of her life.”
Mum pushes manufacturers to remove toxic ingredients
Ms Nevins is urging parents to talk to their children about the dangers of chroming. She is also pushing for manufacturers to remove toxic ingredients from their aerosol.
The mum’s close friend Belinda Lahrs has created a Facebook page called ‘Change for Chloe - Chroming chaos’ in an effort to educate others.
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In one post, Ms Lahrs said four teenagers died from “Rexing” in Queensland in 2019.
“Every day, in our schools, young teens are inhaling deodorant cans to get high. This needs to stop,” she wrote.
Ms Lahrs said she has contacted Rexona to alert them to Chloe’s condition and to request toxic ingredients to be removed.
She said the company extended their greatest sympathies and posted their response to the Facebook page.
“Any harm to a child is a tragedy and we are committed to tackling this complex issue alongside police, youth services, retailers and more,” the response reads.
“One of the big issues is that a huge range of aerosol products available in stores can be used for chroming. This includes products such as spray tan, sunscreen, shaving cream, hair spray, spray starch, bug spray, air freshener and surface sprays.
“Of these aerosol products, more than 90 per cent use hydrocarbons as the propellant (the intoxicating component).
“Hydrocarbon alternatives and additions (such as bitterants) have been explored by aerosol manufacturers and external bodies, however, for a variety of reasons, no approach has proven successful.”
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