Poison-proof your home
Every 15 seconds, someone in the United States is accidentally poisoned.
About 60 percent of those victims are children younger than 6 whose curiosity about
medications, plants and such common household products as cleaners and cosmetics
can have serious, even deadly, consequences.
Brenda Schroeder, a safety management specialist at the University of Michigan Health
System, offers some tips on how to prevent accidental poisonings in the home.
Parents have to be especially vigilant in high-risk areas such as the kitchen, bathroom,
laundry room and garage. Philodendrons, ivy, daisies and tulips are among the common
plants that pose a potential threat.
Here are some ways you can poison-proof your home:
• Keep poisonous products in a locked cabinet or store them in a high location that's
out of reach of children.
• Keep products in their original containers with the original label, which can
provide first aid information in the event of an accidental poisoning.
• All household cleaners and medications should have child-resistant caps.
• After you use them, immediately return medications and hazardous products to their
safe storage locations.
• Read the product labels on all cleaning products so you know how to safely use
them.
• Have the Poison Control Center's telephone number (1-800-222-1222) where you can
quickly and easily find it.
Adults should never behave in way that might tempt children to want to try medications.
"Always make sure not to refer to medications as candy. And, if possible, do not
take your medication in front of your children. Children often like to pretend to
be grown up and mimic what adults do," Schroeder said.