Acute toxic exposures in childhood are quite a frequent event in Paediatric Emergency Medicine. Despite that, there are few papers about clinical toxicology in children, at least in Italy. This paper is the first that takes into account both epidemiological aspects and clinical features of acute poisoning in children on a national basis. Collected data show the increased use of activated charcoal as a treatment and the use of the short stay observation unit as an appropriate answer to the real clinical situation, although some aspects are still controversial. It will be necessary to reconsider the whole matter widening the number of participating centres, so that the most controversial aspects may be clarified.