Pediatric fatality from gun bluing solution: the need for a chemical equivalent of the one-pill-can-kill list.

Gun bluing solution is commonly used to polish guns and prevent rusting. The authors report a case of a 2-year-old boy who inadvertently ingested approximately 15 ml of his father's Fox Gun Blue solution. The patient subsequently developed acidosis, hypotension, and coma. He died within four hours after ingestion. His plasma selenium level was 857 ng/ml. A brief review of other reported ingestion of gun bluing liquid in both adults and children is also included.