“Take Five” to Find Toxins

(Garcia blog poisons – Part I)

When my kids were young, my wife and I were very careful about keeping toxic products on high shelves or behind cabinet doors with baby latches.  The kids are older now and we don’t worry so much. But the other day a friend was telling me about how a neighbor’s two-year-old got into his wife’s cosmetic drawer and ate three tubes of lipstick and ended up in the emergency room.

It made me realize there are a lot more products out there poisonous to children than I’m used to thinking of. In fact, 12,000 children go to the emergency room and 33 die every year due to poisoning.  The latest statistics show common products associated with poisonings in children under five include: cosmetics/personal care products (13.5%), analgesics (9.7%), household cleaning substances (9.7%), foreign bodies/toys/miscellaneous (7.5%), and topical preparations (6.9).  These latest child poisoning study results were published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

It made me want to take a quick inventory of products around my house that might prove dangerous, should we have little ones visit. So I decide to “take five” and hunt for household toxins in four areas in the house. Here’s what I found:

Bathroom

Cosmetics, it turns out, are the number one cause of pediatric poisonings.  These include: nail polish remover, hair spray, mouthwash and perfumes – a few of which I found within easy reach in the bathroom.  Add to that the toilet bowl cleaner under the sink.

The bathroom and bedroom is where we tend to keep medicine. Analgesics (pain killers like aspirin), are listed as the third-highest cause of child poisonings in the U.S. Poison control organizations suggest that adults never refer to medicine as “candy” with children. Always keep medicine capped and off bedside tables, and keep medicines in their original containers. These same experts warn that many child poisonings take place away from home – notably at grandparents and older relatives. Something I want to keep in mind as our children age.

Kitchen

The next major cause of child poisonings are household products found in the kitchen. Within 5 minutes I found five products:  dishwasher detergent, sink cleanser (a can of Comet can look just like a can of Kraft parmesan cheese to a child), a spray bottle of general purpose cleaner, silver polish and dishwasher spot remover (the pretty blue stuff).

The Texas Poison Control Center offers a list of prevention suggestions for each room of the house.

In my next blog I’ll cover my own laundry room and the garage. Meanwhile, I challenge you to “Take Five” and find five poisonous products within easy reach in your home, and email me what you’ve found.