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Child poisoning overview:
- Who: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urges parents to take care as unintentional pediatric poisoning deaths spiked 37% in 2021.
- Why: Fifty-nine children ages 5 and younger lost their lives in 2021 after gaining access to prescribed or illicit drugs.
- Where: The statistics relate to the United States.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges parents to take care as unintentional pediatric poisoning deaths spiked 37% in 2021.
According to a March 20 alert, 59 children younger than 5 years old lost their lives in 2021 after gaining access to prescribed or illicit drugs.
“The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission encourages consumers to safeguard their families, especially those more vulnerable, from poisonings by taking control of potentially harmful household products, medications and drugs,” the alert says.
The CPSC says child poisoning deaths have fallen by 73 percent since 1972 due to tough federal laws, including the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) of 1970 and the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2015. However, children are still not completely safe from unintentional poisoning, the CPSC points out.
“Sadly, this report shows the work that still needs to be done to protect children,” CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric says. “Nearly eight out of 10 poisonings occurred in the home. Please take the time to store cleaning supplies, laundry packets, button batteries and drugs out of children’s reach or in locked cabinets. If you see it lying around, a child can grab and swallow it.”
The CPSC’s latest report notes Black children suffer a disproportionate rate of unintentional pediatric poisoning injuries at 21.4%, compared to making up 15.8% of the U.S. population.
The report also found blood pressure medications, acetaminophen, antidepressants, laundry packets and bleach are the five products most involved in unintentional pediatric poisonings.
Parents should identify home hazards to avoid child poisoning, CPSC says
CPSC encourages family members and caregivers to identify hazards in the home that could be a poisoning danger and keep them out of a child’s sight and reach. This includes safely storing medications in a locked cabinet or box and out of the reach of children, keeping them in their original containers and discarding unused medicine.
Laundry packets should be kept in their original containers and out of a child’s sight and reach. Chemicals and cleaning supplies should be safely stored in a locked cabinet or box that is out of the reach of children and in their original packaging.
Products with accessible batteries should be kept away from children if the battery compartments do not have a screw closure or if the compartment is damaged.
In related news, the parents of a 19-month-old girl who died after coming into contact with fentanyl at an Airbnb rental property in Wellington, Florida, filed a lawsuit against the company.
What do you think of the findings in this child poisoning report? Let us know in the comments.
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