Manila: Quezon City has banned the sale of silver cleaning fluid amid reports that the household item was responsible for several deaths in the country.

Quezon City in northern Metro Manila is the first local government unit in the country to pass an ordinance prohibiting the sale of metal polish or silver jewellery cleaners.

Earlier, Health Secretary Janette Garin called on local officials to criminalise the sale of chemical solutions containing highly poisonous cyanide because of the dangers they pose.

On September 1, the city council led by Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte unanimously approved an ordinance that strictly prohibits the selling of silver jewellery cleaners containing cyanide and other toxic substances within the territorial jurisdiction of Quezon City.

The ordinance imposes a penalty of not less than P5,000 (Dh392) for violators as well as a maximum of three months imprisonment.

Toxic watchdog EcoWaste Coalition commended the Quezon City Council for passing the ordinance and heralded the local edict as “life-saving.”.

“We commend the City Council for enacting a life-saving ordinance that is consistent with the national goal of averting poisoning incidents, injuries and fatalities” Thony Dizon, Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect, said.

“The ordinance will help in preventing cyanide poisoning from the accidental and deliberate intake of this deadly potion that has killed so many people, including young children who mistook it for water and adults who drank it on purpose,” he added.

The Philippines does not have solid data on the number of victims of silver cleaner ingestion over the years, but the chemical has a dour reputation of being the final recourse for people who want to end their life quickly.

In January 2014, a young mother from Santo Domingo village in the city died after drinking a bottle of silver cleaner following a domestic dispute.

According to the Department of Health, acute poisoning immediately occurs after ingestion or skin contact with cyanide as it is quickly absorbed into the body, preventing oxygen use in all organs.

Silver cleaning fluid ranked sixth among top 10 agents used in admitted poisoning cases at the Philippine General Hospital in 2014.