During a period of one year, a total of 79 cases of accidental poisoning were registered prospectively in the County Hospital in Aarhus and the City Hospital in Randers. The female/male ratio was 1/1.5. The incidence in children aged 0-14 years of age was 13 per 10,000. In Denmark as a whole, a total of 1,300 cases of accidental poisoning were estimated to occur during a period of one year. Sixty-four (81%) of the accidents occurred in small children aged 0-4 years. Twenty-five patients (32%) were hospitalized. The average duration of hospitalization was 2.4 days (1-4 days) and 84% of the inpatients were aged 0-4 years. The survey revealed that 27 case of accidental poisoning were due to medicine, 20 to organic solvents, eight to chemicals, 22 to poison and two to asphyxiation. It is concluded that the special legal regulations about packing and labelling are not sufficient when storage of the potential poison is not safe enough.