Glossary
Caustic Soda
The common industrial name for sodium hydroxide, a strongly alkaline chemical used in drain cleaners, soap, paper, and food processing. It can cause severe chemical burns to skin, eyes, and the digestive tract.
Caustic soda is another name for sodium hydroxide, also called lye. NIOSH lists caustic soda, lye, soda lye, and sodium hydrate as synonyms for the same chemical. It usually comes as white flakes, pellets, or a liquid solution, and it is one of the most heavily produced industrial chemicals in the world.
It turns up in many places:
- Heavy-duty drain openers and oven cleaners.
- Soap and detergent making.
- Pulp and paper, textiles, aluminum refining, and water treatment.
- Some food processing, such as curing olives and making pretzels.
- Lye-based hair relaxers.
"Caustic" means it destroys living tissue on contact. NIOSH lists eye and skin burns, irritation of mucous membranes, and pneumonitis among its health hazards, with a recommended exposure limit ceiling of 2 mg per cubic meter of air for workers. Unlike acid burns, alkali burns can keep penetrating tissue after contact, so eye splashes are especially dangerous and need immediate, prolonged rinsing and emergency care.
Legal claims involving caustic soda include workplace injury claims (which usually go through workers' compensation, with possible product claims against equipment or chemical suppliers), consumer product cases over drain cleaners with inadequate warnings or leaking containers, and injury claims from children swallowing household products. The current hair relaxer lawsuits focus on cancer claims rather than burns. For the full chemical profile, see the related term sodium hydroxide, and for how product injury cases work, see class action vs. mass tort. For poisoning, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.
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