William Penn Life, 1971 (6. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1971-02-01 / 1. szám

It is obviously impossible for any­one, even the poison expert, to know all the poison hazards your child may encounter around the house and neighborhood. But the major sources of danger are clear. Medicines are by far the largest cause of childhood poisoning, ac­counting for more than half of re­ported cases. Youngsters are es­pecially susceptible to brightly colored, interestingly shaped and attractively packaged drugs of all kinds. Reports of poison incidents include many common medicine chest items: calamine lotion, cold pills, liniment, tranquilizers, lax­atives, cough syrup, eye medicine, nose drops, iron tablets, iodine, sleeping pills, vitamin capsules, heart and stomach medicine. But the most frequent cause of all child poisoning is aspirin. It figures in 20 percent of poisoning incidents. Aspirin is the one drug which is found in almost every home. Many families use it for nearly all illnesses. The universal use of aspirin, combined with the late appearance of toxic symptoms in case of an overdose, make it a particular danger to young chil­dren. Roger J. Meyer, M.D., of Boston, reported on 94 cases of aspirin poisoning in children. In every case but one, the parents had previously encouraged the child to take aspirin by telling him it was “candy.” All the families had a special place for medicine but two factors eliminated this safe­guard: Either the family was un­aware of the dangers of aspirin or failed to take adequate precau­tions to keep it from youngsters. Another group of substances that can poison children are obvious hazards: bleaches, drain cleaners, ammonia, spot removers, and dry cleaning fluids, for example. But many other common household items are usually not thought of as poisonous and this increases their danger: nail polish remover, floor and furniture wax, adhesives, ink, paint, shoe polish, wall cleaner, silverware polish, and some deter­gents. The U.S. Health Service ranks iree other product areas as major sources of poisoning: Petroleum products, including gasoline, kero­sene, lighter fluid, fuel oil, paint thinner, and solvents; pesticides, such as insect sprays, roach and ant killers; poisons for mice and other rodents; weed killers, and sprays for indoor and outdoor plants, and cosmetics, such as af­ter-shave lotion, cologne, nail pol­ish, depilatories, hair tonics, oils, lacquers dyes, and curling solu­tions. The list of poison hazards to children could continue for many pages, but the basic causes of danger are two: 1. Hazardous sub­stances abound in every home. 2. Parents are sometimes careless in storing potential poisons because they don’t know the substances are dangerous. And, most important, there is often no way they can know because the label gives no warn­ing. The problem of adequate pre­cautionary labeling of dangerous household chemicals has con­cerned public health authorities and physicians for many years. State and federal laws governing labeling of hazardous substances have been sketchy, non-uniform, and generally unsatisfactory. State regulations are an irregu­lar patchwork of laws that vary from state to state. Some states have no labeling legislation at all. Laws at the federal level cover labeling of drugs, pesticides, cer­tain caustic and corrosive sub­stances, and narcotics. But until quite recently, there were no broad labeling requirements for house­hold chemicals and poisons except laws applying to transportation of these items. The American Medical Associa­tion has waged a vigorous cam­paign for adequate labeling legis­lation. As far back as 1960, a bill was introduced in the 86th Con­gress covering labeling of hazard­ous substance intended or suitable for household use. The AMA warm­ly supported the measure. In testi­mony to the Senate committee holding hearings on the bill, the executive vice president öf the AMA, stated: “Lack of informa­tion about hazardous ingredients in cases of poisonings has en­hanced their gravity by compli­cating or delaying treatment.” The bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Eisenhower as the Federal Hazard­ous Substances Labeling Act on July 12, 1960. The label of any poisonous house­hold product should list the fol­lowing information: 1. The com­mon name of the hazardous sub­stance. 2. A signal word: “Danger” or “Poison” for items that are ex­tremely flammable, corrosive, or highly toxic. “Warning” or “Cau­tion” for all other hazardous prod­ucts. 3. Directions for handling and storing packages requiring special care. 4. A warning state­ment such as “Keep out of reach of children.” How can one minimize the dan­gers that may be found in the home? Today’s Health, a publica­tion of the American Medical As­sociation, advises that one way is to make a room-by-room check, spotting and eliminating poison hazards as you go. The American Academy of Pediatrics has pub­lished a breakdown of poisoning incidents according to the part of the house in which they occur. They list the most dangerous rooms as follows. The kitchen: 34 percent of poi­son accidents take place in the kitchen. It is here that bleaches, cleansers, and polishes are usually stored, often in a low cabinet un­der the kitchen sink where the£ are readily accessible to children in the crawling stage. Transfer these sanitizing agents to a high shelf (preferably locked) out of reach of crawlers; put canned goods or pots and pans in the low cabinets. Don’t store preparations like drain cleaner and soap pow­der on the same shelf where you keep breakfast cereal, baby foods, and sugar. Children are careless and may grab the wrong package. Keep household chemicals in their original containers. A thirsty child can mistake a teacup of bleach for water. Labels of household prod­ucts should not be mutilated. In the event of poisoning, the label may give important information concerning antidotes and ingre­dients. The bedroom accounts for 27 percent of poisoning incidents. Don’t sprinkle winter clothes or blankets with mothballs and store them in a low chest or bureau drawer. Youngsters from one to five are attracted by the white color of the mothballs and their odor. Never keep sleeping pills or other remedies used at bedtime or during the night on low tables or in drawers that pull out easily. Don’t use shelves or drawers in the bedroom closet for storing cleaning powder or fluids or as a second medicine cabinet. If your child is sick at night, don’t give him the medicine in the dark. Turn on the light and read the label. Cosmetics should be placed out of youngsters’ reach and not left on a dressing table. The bathroom, where the family medicines are , „ Con't Page 10

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