THURSDAY, March 25 (HealthDayNews) -- This week is National Poison Prevention Week, and it's a good time to take a look around your home to make sure your children won't fall victim to accidental poisonings. Each year, about 1 million children in the United States are exposed to poisonous substances and about 30 die from accidental poisonings. About 90 percent of those poisonings are caused by children ingesting ordinary household products or medicines, says Rachel Robinson, director of drug information services at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. "When most people hear the word poison, they think of arsenic, strychnine, cyanide, malathion and so on. However, vitamins, cleaning products and even cosmetics can be poisonous," Robinson says in a prepared statement. She offers the following advice on how to prevent accidental poisonings:
Even though your first instinct may be to induce vomiting in the poisoning victim, that may actually do more harm than good. For example, strong acids can burn the throat and vomiting may worsen the damage. "Do not induce vomiting unless the poison control representative tells you do so. Ingestion of anything volatile, like petroleum-based products, can cause aspiration into the lungs," Robinson says. More information The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has a poison lookout checklist. (SOURCE: University of Mississippi, news release, March 19, 2004) Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. HealthDayNews articles are derived from various sources and do not reflect federal policy. healthfinder® does not endorse opinions, products, or services that may appear in news stories. For more information on health topics in the news, visit the healthfinder® health library. |