Make Poison Prevention Year-Round Priority

Each year more than 2 million poisonings are reported to Poison Control centers across the country. More than 90 percent of these happen in the home. The majority of nonfatal poisonings occur in children younger than age 6, and poisonings are one of the leading causes of death among adults.

While one week in March is designated annually as National Poison Prevention Week, an educator with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System says it is vital that parents and other adults make poison prevention a year-round priority.

Laura Booth, an Extension associate for environmental programs, notes that from 2002 through 2004, about 36 children younger than 5 died each year as a result of ingesting poisonous substances found in and around the home.

Many poisonings happen when adults are distracted for just a few minutes. Unfortunately, it takes only a few moments for a small child to grab and swallow something that could be poisonous.

“This is why adults must make sure household chemicals and medicines are stored away from children at all times, and that they know what to do if children swallow something that they are not supposed to,” says Booth.

Parents may only think about locking cabinets that contain pesticides and cleaning products.

Booth says adults should use the same caution for both prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

“Medicines may look like candy to children,” she adds. “Depending upon the medicine, even one pill could be harmful to a child.”

Booth says that while labeling requirements, educational programs and child-resistant packaging have had some effect in reducing the number of childhood ingestions, significant numbers of children are still being poisoned by consuming medicines brought into the home by grandparents or visitors. Poisonings also have occurred when youngsters have visited homes where no children live.

She encourages all adults to use child-resistant packaging. In a study conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 23 percent of the oral prescription drugs that were ingested by children under age 5 belonged to someone who did not live with the child.

Booth says people who are elderly or handicapped can request non-child- resistant packaging for prescription medicine, but they should be very careful how and where they store their medicines.

“Pill organizers can contain a week’s worth of medication for an adult,” she says. “If the container is kept where a child has easy access, the pills inside it present a very real opportunity for an accidental poisoning.”

Booth offers some basic guidelines that can help prevent poisonings in homes.

• Use child-resistant packaging properly by closing the container securely after use.

• Keep all chemicals and medicines locked up and out of sight.

• Never let young children out of your sight when products are in use, even if you must take the child or product along when answering the phone or doorbell.

• Always keep items in original containers because these containers have information about the product.

• Leave the original labels on all products, and read the label before using.

• Do not put decorative lamps and candles that contain lamp oil where children can reach them because lamp oil is toxic.

• Always leave the light on when giving or taking medication. Check the dosage every time. This is especially important for older adults who may need reading glasses.

• Avoid taking medicines in front of children. Refer to medicine as medicine, not candy.

• Clean out the medicine cabinet periodically, and safely dispose of unneeded medicines when the illness for which they were prescribed is over. Pesticides also should be discarded properly. If you have questions, call your local solid waste agency for proper disposal instructions of hazardous products.

• Call the poison center toll-free at (800) 222-1222 immediately in case of poisoning.

Posted by lawremc at March 24, 2008 08:26 AM | TrackBack