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Hispanic and other cultures often use tea made from boiled mint plants to treat a variety of common ailments such as colic. Although most mint teas are safe, these two cases from Sacramento, California indicate that teas containing pennyroyal oil can be quite toxic.
An 8-week-old boy was dusky and in respiratory distress within 14 hours after he was given 120 ml of mint tea derived from leaves containing pennyroyal oil. He developed liver, adrenal, and kidney failure, cerebral edema, and ischemic necrosis and died four days later. A 6-month-old boy was given 90 ml of tea brewed from a home-grown plant containing pennyroyal oil three times per week since he was three months old. After developing a cold, he became lethargic and developed seizu…