Attorney General Steve Six and the Kansas State Child Death Review Board Ask Kansans to be Aware of the Dangers of Poisoning
The 2009 National Poison Prevention Week is March 15-21. Attorney General Six and the Kansas State Child Death Review Board would like to remind parents and caregivers of the dangers of poison.
A poison is anything that can cause sickness or death if it gets into or on the body. Poisons come in several forms:
- Solids
Examples include pills, batteries, plants, and berries. - Gases
Poisonous gases like carbon monoxide are invisible and are often odorless, unless it contains an additive to make it smell as is the case with propane. - Liquids
Liquid poisons can be any color and are creamy, gummy, or watery. Examples include household cleaning products, antifreeze, medicine, gasoline, paint, and farm chemicals. - Sprays
Spray poisons come from a can or bottle. They can easily get into your eyes, mouth, or lungs. Examples of spray poisons include lawn/garden sprays, household cleaning products, and cosmetic products.
Poisoning is a common childhood injury. Children who are between the ages of eight months and six years old are the most likely to be poisoned. It is important to remember that infants and children take twice the amount of breaths per minute as adults; therefore poisons ingested through the air, e.g. carbon monoxide or carcinogens found in secondhand smoke, are ingested by children at twice the rate as adults.
Most poisoning events occur at home. However, incidents have occurred where children were poisoned after ingesting their grandparent's medication which was not properly stored before the visit.
The following are recommendations to prevent poisoning:
- Provide supervision to children at all times.
- Do not assume a child cannot open a medicine bottle. Many medications resemble candy and children will mistake them as such. Store all medications in locked cabinets out of the reach of children.
- Store all household cleaning products and outdoor chemicals, such as lawn/garden sprays, bug sprays, gasoline, etc. in a child-proof cabinet or shed.
- Do not smoke in the same room with a child.
- Teach your child the importance of not consuming unknown items.
If you discover your child has ingested a harmful product, call the Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222 and you will be connected to a poison control center in your area. You will be asked to provide the agency with your child's age and weight and any allergies he or she may have.
The SCDRB is a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency board that examines the circumstances surrounding the deaths of all Kansas children (birth through 17 years-of-age) and children who are not Kansas residents, but who die in the state. The goals of the SCDRB are to describe the trends and patterns of child deaths in Kansas, to develop prevention strategies, and to improve sources of data and communication among agencies. The Board works toward lowering child deaths in Kansas through research, education, and legislation.
For additional information, visit the SCDRB website at http://www.ksag.org/content/page/id/49 ,or contact Angela Nordhus, Executive Director, at (785) 296-7970.