Accidental Poisoning

January 28, 2007

One thinks of their home as a SAFE HAVEN from the world, but your home can be a very dangerous place when it comes to accidental poisoning, or even worse when it causes the death of your precious child. Thousands of deaths can be prevented every year by an informed and cautious parent who is fully aware of the environment in which the child lives.

AREAS OF CONCERN
Kitchen - with its cleaning products, vitamin tablets, medicines and alcohol
Bathrooms - with medicines and cleaning products under your counter
Garages and Utility Rooms - keosene and paint thinners, antifreeze, windshield washing fluids, poisons for the garden.
Living Room and Family Room -houseplants (know which are poisonous and which are not)
Outdoor gardens - many plants are toxic to children and pets

This article deals with all areas of concern, except for common poisonous indoor and outdoor plants! Please refer to our article on poisonous plants for a full list of common indoor and outdoor poisonous plants.

MEDICINES
Over the counter diet pills have the potential to be lethal to children as do OTC stimulants used to keep you awake as well as decongestant tablets. Tofranil (imipramine) an antidepressant drug also used for childhood bedwetting and Catapres (clonidine), a high blood pressure medicine can be very hazardous because it takes very little to produce life-threatening problems in children. One tablet, just one, can cause death.
Antidepressant drugs have a high degree of toxicity and are cardiac and nervous system toxins. These drugs are increasingly given to adolescents with behavioral problems.
Be sure to keep ALL DRUGS AND OVER THE COUNTER MEDICINES FAR FROM LITTLE HANDS AND IN CHILD PROOF CONTAINERS that make it difficult for a child to open.
Pediatric vitamins is also a concern because they are marketed to look like candy and don’t taste or seem like medicine. Overdoses can easily occur.

Children also mimic their parents who take pills and may want to do it too, with often fatal results.

POISON PROOF YOUR CABINETS. Putting cabinet latches on cabinets will help.
1. Always close the container as soon as you have finished using it.
2. Secure properly in child resistant packaging and put it away from sight.
3. Never keep medicines on a countertop or bedside table.
4. Follow Medicine label directions carefully to avoid accidental overdoses or misdoses which could result in accidental poisoning.
5. Medicine’s should not be stored in bathrooms because of the warm, moist environment which tends to cause disintegration of the product. Store in cool and dark location as light can also affect the potency of your prescription.
6. ANY POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE SHOULD BE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY.


CLEANING PRODUCTS
Buy the least hazardous products that serve your purposes and always read labels. For hazardous products such as gasoline, kerosene, paint thinners, furniture oils, ammonia and clorox for cleaning, please put in LOCKED CABINETS, away from curious little hands. Better to take extra precautions than to be sorry later.

ALCOHOL
Alcohol, which many of us have in open cabinets and easily accessible to children, is an unsuspected cause of many fatal poisonings of young children. Ingestion can lead to seizures, coma and death. It doesn’t take much alcohol to produce such effects. Alcohol laced products such as mouthwashes, aftershaves and colognes can also produce the same problems. Again, the best preventative would be to put such items behind locked doors.

LEAD POISONING
Although lead levels in food and drink are the lowest in history, concern still remains about lead leaching into food from certain ceramic ware. Improperly fired glazes on ceramics can allow lead to leach into food or drink. Old paint in old buildings is also a worry and if in doubt, have a paint chip checked and remove old paint, repainting with lead free paint. Lead has been long recognized as a toxic substance which can adversely affect health over months and years.

After a California family suffered acute lead poisoning in 1969 from drinking orange juice stored in a pitcher bought in Mexico, FDA established action levels for lead in ceramics that are used to serve food. The last revision for ceramic foodware was in 1991. In January of 1994, the FDA published a regulation for decorative ceramic ware not intended for food use requiring a permanent label on high-lead leaching products.

Most lead toxicity comes from multiple exposure over a long period of time. Symptoms are: refusing to eat, vomiting, convulsions and malaise. A blood test is the surest way to determine that your child has not been exposed to significant amounts of lead. Lead poisoning can permanently affect the growing brain of your child and has been known to produce retardation.

Beware of purchasing ceramic ware when abroad and never use these ceramics to store food, especially acidic food such as orange, tomato and other fruit juices, tomato sauces, vinegar and wine. Stop using any item if the glaze appears dusty or chalky gray after washing. And please limit your use of antique or collectible housewares for food and beverages. You can buy a lead test at a hardware store when in doubt and do screenings on suspected ceramic ware at home.

IRON POISONING
Iron containing products remains one of the biggest problems by far when it comes to childhood poisoning. Between June 1992 and January 1993, five toddlers died after eating Iron and Supplement tables (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Mobidity and Mortality Weekly Report of February 1993). Children ate tablets from uncapped or loosely capped bottles, found spilled on the floor.

Iron is always in prenatal vitamins given to pregnant women and is often included in children’s multivitamin formulas. These are generally available without prescription and are found in grocery stores, drugstores and health food stores. For a child, as little as 600 mg. of iron CAN BE FATAL.

Today formulations of iron products containing 30 mg. or more of elemental iron per dose is now under the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association (NDMA) which manufactures 95 percent of nonprescription OTC medicines today. They have agreed that such formulations would not be made with sweet coatings and independently agreed to have warnings on all such products manufactured. Also now, these formualtions all require tamper proof resistant packaging. Be sure to check with your doctor for correct dosages in children, especially under five years of age where most overdoses occur.

Children poisoned with iron face immediate and long term problems. These problems can progress to shock, coma, seizures, and death. Within minutes of ingestion nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding can occur. Any children that do survive iron poisoning can experience other problems such as gastrointestinal obstruction and liver damage up to four weeks after ingesting the large dose of iron.

SIGNS OF POISONING
Most poisons work fairly quickly. A key is when the child was otherwise well and in a space of hours develops unusual symptoms. Watch for a child that can’t follow you with their eyes. They are sleepy before nap time and their eyes go around in circles. Any unusual symptoms makes you think poisoning as a possibility. Poisoning typically affects the stomach and central nervous system. Watch for burns around the lips or mouth, stains of the substance around the mouth or a strong smell on the child’s breath. If you find an opened medicine bottle or spilled pills, automatically suspect poisoning.

If you suspect poisoning, remain calm. POST THIS NUMBER ON YOUR FRIDGE, IN YOUR PHONE BOOK and ON YOUR CELLPHONE. Call the U.S. NATIONAL POISON HOTLINE: 1-800-222-1222. Automatically it will link you to the nearest poison center.

The first poison center opened in Chicago in 1953 due to a large population of children’s deaths were proven to be from medicines being easily opened in the home. Since then, child-resistent caps became the norm and increased sophistication in medical care have
lowered the overall death rates.

Your diligence in dealing with situations of accidental poisoning can prevent serious injury to your child or elderly person as well. Your first frame of reference, therefore, is the Poison Control Center. They will be able to ascertain if a hospital trip would be required unless the poisoning is very evident. Follow their directions carefully.

KEEP ON HAND
Syrup of Ipecac which induces vomiting, thus ridding the body of the swallowed poison. Use only after consulting with the poison control center or your physician. If required, for children ages 1-12, give one tablespoon of syrup of ipecac followed by an 8 oz. glass of water. Over age 12, take two tablespoons of syrup of ipecac followed by two 8 oz. glasses of water. REMEMBER TO CONSULT WITH YOUR POISON CONTROL CENTER FIRST OR YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE USING ANYTHING.

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