Poison awareness week targets children

By CNN's Julie Vallese

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Determined to cut down the number of accidental poisonings involving children, government and industry groups have come together to raise awareness about the dangers of households products. With Sunday as the kickoff, they've designated this poison prevention awareness week, with the theme, "Children act fast, so do poisons!"

Each year about 30 children die from unintentional poisoning from household products. Poison control centers around the country take almost 2 million calls asking for help or advice on how to treat a possible poisoning.

The Poison Prevention Week Council wants to cut those numbers by focusing on household products. Potentially dangerous products include: over-the-counter medicines such as cough medicine, aspirin and eye washes; prescription drugs; household products, such as furniture polish, drain cleaner, window cleaner, anti-freeze, mouthwash and glue. Batteries also pose a potential danger.

Debbie Currico learned the potential dangers of over-the-counter medicine when her son Stevie, 3, drank a bottle of cough syrup. She thinks she saved his life by calling the poison center.

"If I didn't call them, I don't think I would have thought to give him the ipecac. I would have given him water on my own," the Springfield, Va. mother said.

While not all poison centers endorse the use of ipecac -- an over-the-counter medicine which induces vomiting -- the center where Currico called did. She has advice for parents of toddlers.

"Never go without it in your home," she said. "No matter how cautious you think you are, you really can't prevent things."

Poison experts encourage people to do just what Currico did. "If you think there has been a possible poisoning, please pick up the phone and call the poison center immediately," said Rose Ann Soloway of the National Capitol Area Poison Control Center. "Don't wait to see what is going to happen. Don't wait to find out to see if symptoms are going to develop."

There are different reactions to different products. Sometimes a child might throw up, become drowsy or sluggish. When calling a poison control center, parents should have the victim's age, weight, any health problems, what was ingested and how it was ingested, any first aid already given to the victim, whether the person has vomited, and the current location and how long it would take to get to a hospital.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, almost half of homes in the United States with children under age 5 had at least one pesticide stored in an unlocked cabinet, less than 4 feet off the ground. Kitchens and bathrooms were the areas in the home most likely to have improperly stored medicines or pesticides. Starting in 1981, the government required residential-use pesticide to carry the word "danger" or "warning" and to come with child-resistant packaging.

The government began requiring products to have child-resistant packaging in the early 1970s. Such packaging is required for 28 categories of medicines, household chemicals and hydrocarbons. "For aspirin and oral-prescription medicine, special packaging has saved the lives of over 900 children since the early 1970s," said Pamela Gilbert, executive director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Soloway warned parents not to underestimate the curiosity of a child. "One of the biggest mistakes (parents make) is somehow assuming their child won't be subject to normal growth and development -- thinking 'My child is so smart that he or she will figure that out, my child is so good he or she won't touch things,' " she said.

Poison control centers are staffed mostly with registered nurses, pharmacists and physicians. Centers in areas with high concentrations of non-English speaking residents are usually staffed with bilingual counselors. The centers that do not have bilingual speakers rely on modern technology from the phone company. Poison centers can active a service that allows translation of over 140 languages within seconds.

Former President Clinton signed into law the "Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act," which is designed to stabilize the funding for poison control centers.

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January 16, 2001

AAP - National Poison Prevention Week

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