Out of the reach and sight of children: the advice on storing laundry is well known but little applied. In the United States, 62,250 children were poisoned in 2 years.
Red, blue, green. You’ve certainly seen those colorful pods of concentrated liquid laundry detergent on your supermarket shelves. Although useful for storage, they represent a great danger for children. A study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics reminds us. In the space of two years, 62,254 calls to poison control centers were recorded in the United States. Two children died.
10 times more incidents in France
Of the calls noted by the authors, 60% concerned exposure to pods. In one out of two cases, the listening center referred the families to a medical structure. The rate is much higher than those observed during exposure to traditional detergents (17%), traditional dishwashing liquids (4%) and dishwasher tablets (5%).
It is also the detergent pods that recorded the largest increase in the number of incidents, with more than 30 daily calls. A phenomenon that is also found in France since, according to the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), we went from 500 annual swallows in 2009 to 5,000 in 2014.
Secure packaging
The rate is all the more alarming as these detergents are highly concentrated. Exposures therefore cause much more severe effects in children, compared to usual products. The poison control centers have thus notified respiratory or cardiac disorders, even comas. And the voluntary warning rules on packaging, put in place in 2015, are not enough, according to the researchers.
“This voluntary rule is an encouraging first step, but it needs to be strengthened,” says Gary Smith. Manufacturers must continue to find ways to make these products and packaging safer for children. “
Contact poison control centers
Pending more secure packaging, measures can be implemented at home. Authorities recommend that families with a child under the age of 6 use traditional detergents rather than pods. Storage must be done at a height and out of the sight of the youngest. The authors advise families to keep the number of poison control centers near a telephone.
In the event of exposure, this structure should be contacted for medical advice. The mouth should be cleaned with a washcloth or a clean, damp cloth in order to remove as much detergent as possible. The DGCCFR specifies that it is useless to induce vomiting, and rather advises to “avoid drinks for two hours, but give to eat a compote, a dessert cream, bread or cakes to absorb the product and line the digestive mucosa. . »The Management advises, in the event of breathing difficulties, to immediately contact the 15. In the event of contact with the skin or the eyes, the organ must be rinsed immediately and abundantly with clear water.
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