Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

This week (March 15-21) is the 48th observance of National Poison Prevention Week, and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging parents, grandparents and caregivers to have layers of poison prevention protection in the home.

An estimated 80,000 children are treated each year in emergency departments for unintentional poisonings, according to CPSC. Children younger than age 5 account for the majority of the non-fatal poisonings. Seventy percent of the poisonings involve children 1 or 2 years of age. Oral prescription drugs, non prescription drugs and supplements were involved in more than half of the incidents.

CPSC recommends that parents and caregivers immediately take these three steps to help prevent poisoning: First, keep medicines and household chemicals in their original, child-resistant containers. Second, store the potentially hazardous substances up and out of a child’s sight and reach. And lastly, keep the national toll-free poison control center telephone number, 800-222-1222, handy in case of a poison emergency.

Other recommended safety practices include:

• When hazardous products are in use, never let young children out of your sight, even if you must take them along when answering the phone or doorbell.
• Keep items closed and in their original containers.
• Leave the original labels on all products, and read the label before using.
• Always leave the light on when giving or taking medicine so that you can see what you are taking. Check the dosage every time.
• Avoid taking medicine in front of children. Refer to medicine as “medicine,” not “candy.”
• Clean out the medicine cabinet periodically and safely dispose of unneeded and outdated medicines.
• Do not put decorative lamps and candles that contain lamp oil where children can reach them. Lamp oil can be very toxic if ingested by young children.

As one of the longest running public health campaigns, National Poison Prevention Week has contributed to the more than 80% reduction in the number of deaths related to poisonings (down from 216 in 1972). While there has been a significant decrease in deaths, studies show that unintentional child poisonings still remain a serious concern.

Source: CPSC

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 12:09 pm and is filed under News, safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.