Poison

Curiosity is a natural stage of your child's development, but it also puts her at greater risk of unintentional poisoning. In 1998 more than 1.1 million such poisonings among children ages 5 and under were reported to U.S. poison control centers. The same year 69 children ages 14 and under died from poisoning incidents. Although household cleaners are a frequent cause of poisoning, kids can also be fatally poisoned by iron, alcohol and carbon monoxide.

Child-resistant packaging, product reformulation and interventions by poison control centers and health professionals all helped reduce the childhood poison-related death rate 38 percent from 1987 to 1998. By reducing the opportunity for poisonings and knowing how to keep innocent mistakes from turning into tragedies, you can help that number decline even further.

On this Page:

• If You Suspect a Poisoning
• Why Kids Are at Risk
• Protecting Your Family
• Eliminate Potential Hazards
• Prepare Your Home
• Teach Safety
• Protecting Communities
• Related Laws and Regulations
• What SAFE KIDS is Doing
• How You Can Help
• Frequently Asked Questions

Out of Sight, Out Of Mind Common household items like medicines, makeup, cleaning products, and plants account for most home poisonings.

Prevent poisoning, but be prepared. Many accidental poisonings can be treated safely at home, but get medical advice first.

• Find the number of your local poison control center. Ask your doctor for the number or look on the first page of your phone book. In Oregon: 1-800-222-1222. Write the number and tape it by your phone.
• Keep Syrup of Ipecac in your home. Take it on vacation, to grandparents' homes, and wherever your children regularly visit. Ipecac is a treatment for some types of poisonings as it causes vomiting. Most drugstores sell it for under $2.00.

1. Stay calm. Keep the child calm.
2. Look in the child's mouth. Remove any remaining pills, pieces of plant, etc.
3. Take the child and the poison to a phone. Call the poison center or your doctor. Be prepared to give the child's age, weight, the product name, and the amount swallowed.
4. Follow their directions. Never give the child ANYTHING (even Ipecac) without first calling a poison center or a doctor. Good intentions could cause more harm.

Other risk factors:

• Male children are more likely than females to be poisoned.
• Black children ages 5 and under have a poisoning death rate approximately twice that of white children.
• Children are more likely to suffer from elevated blood lead levels if they live in older housing. Living in low-income communities and large metropolitan areas are contributing factors.

Protecting Your Family:


When it comes to unintentional childhood poisonings, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You can best protect your children by keeping harmful substances out of their sight and reach, and by testing for lead and carbon monoxide. Because no prevention method is 100 percent effective, being prepared can keep poison exposure from turning into tragedy for you and your family.


Eliminate Potential Hazards:

• Know which household products are poisonous. Something as common as mouthwash can be harmful if a child swallows a large amount.
• Buy child-resistant packaging. Child-resistant caps do not guarantee that children cannot open a container but may deter them from trying or slow them down long enough for you to intervene.
• Never leave potentially poisonous household products unattended while in use. It takes only seconds for a poisoning to occur.
• Don't create new cleaning solutions by mixing different products designed for other uses. The new mixtures may be harmful to children and may not be stored in properly labeled or child-resistant containers.
• Always read labels, follow the exact directions to give children medicines based on their weights and ages, and only use the dispenser that comes packaged with children's medications.

• Store all household products and medications locked out of sight and reach of children.
• Keep all products in original containers. Never put a potentially poisonous product in something other than its original container, where it could be mistaken for something harmless.
• Know which plants in and around your home are poisonous; either remove them or make them inaccessible to children. View a list of poisonous plants that could be in or around your home.
• Throw away old medicines and other potential poisons. Check your garage, basement and other storage areas for cleaning and work supplies that you no longer need.
• Install carbon monoxide detectors in your home. It is estimated that these detectors, designed to sound an alarm before dangerous levels of carbon monoxide accumulate, may prevent up to half of carbon monoxide poisoning deaths. If the alarm sounds, leave the house immediately and call the fire department, local utility company or emergency medical services from a neighbor's home.
• If your home was built before 1978, have it tested for lead-based paint. Cover lead paint with a sealant or hire a professional to remove it. Wash children's hands and faces, toys and pacifiers frequently to reduce the risk of ingesting lead-contaminated dust.
• List poison control center (1-800-222-1222) and emergency medical service numbers near every telephone.
• Keep ipecac syrup on hand, and use it only at the advice of a poison control center or physician. Check with your local poison control center to see if they recommend that you keep activated charcoal in the home as well.

Children under 5 are the most frequent victims of poisonings. Infants and toddlers are at highest risk.

• Teach children never to put leaves, stems, bark, seeds, nuts or berries from any plant into their mouths.
• Never refer to medicine or vitamins as "candy." Referring to medicine as candy could cause a child to think that it is harmless or pleasant to eat. Since children tend to mimic adults, avoid taking medications in front of them.
• Teach grandparents and relatives to take precautions. Before your children visit their homes, ask grandparents to purchase a bottle of ipecac syrup to keep on hand and to post phone numbers to the local poison control center and their local physician near all of their telephones. When relatives visit your home, suitcases containing medicines should be stored where children cannot reach them.

Protecting Communities:


Unintentional child poisonings affect everyone. The total annual cost of poisoning-related death and injury among children ages 14 and under is nearly $6 billion. The average cost of hospital treatment for a single poison exposure is $8,700.


However, prevention methods have been proven effective in reducing poisonings and their associated costs. Poison control centers are effective in handling poison exposures. Of cases reported to poison control centers, 75 percent are managed in a non-health care facility (for example the site of exposure or patient's home). Every dollar spent on poison control centers saves this country $7.


Laws and regulations designed to help parents protect their children have also made a difference in preventing poisonings. The Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 authorizes the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to require the use of child-resistant packaging for toxic substances used in and around the home. An estimated 460 deaths among children ages 4 and under were prevented from 1974 through 1992.


The Lead-Based Paint Prevention Act (1971) and the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (1992) reduce child poisoning by restricting environmental sources of lead. A nearly 80 percent decline in lead poisoning among children ages 1 to 5 was observed following a 15 year effort to reduce lead in consumer products such as gasoline and paint.


Related Laws and Regulations:

• The Food and Drug Administration regulates the labeling and packaging of all iron-containing drugs and supplements to protect children from unintentional poisoning.
• The state of West Virginia and some local jurisdictions (including Chicago, St. Louis and Kingston, NY) have passed legislation requiring the use of carbon monoxide detectors in the home.
• The Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act, passed in February 2000, authorizes up to $138 million over the next five years to carry out a national education effort, fund regional poison control centers and establish a national toll-free hotline. 1-800-222-1222

• Find and support your local poison control center.
• Support state or local legislation to require carbon monoxide detectors in every residence.
• Find your local SAFE KIDS chapter, and ask how you can help with its unintentional poisoning prevention efforts.

1. How can I prepare for a poison emergency?
   Keep the number of the National Poison Control Center hotline by every phone: 1-800-222-1222. In addition, keep a one-ounce bottle of syrup of ipecac or activated charcoal on hand for each child.
   
   Be prepared to give certain facts to the operator when you call:
   1. the victim's age
   2. the victim's weight
   3. existing health conditions or problems
   4. the type of substance and mode of contact (e.g. swallowed, splashed into the eyes, etc.)
   5. if you performed any first aid
      
      
2. I think my child drank something poisonous! What should I do?
   Remain calm. Not all medicines and household products are poisonous. For household products, first follow the instructions on the label and then call the National Poison Control Center hotline 1-800-222-1222. For medicines, call the hotline immediately. If you are unable to contact them, dial 911.
   
   
3. What about syrup of ipecac and activated charcoal?
   DO NOT give the syrup or charcoal to your child without permission from the Poison Control Center.
   
   
4. What about poisonous plants?
   Safe indoor and outdoor plants are an important consideration. Refer to our Poisonous Plant page for further information.