|
 “Parents and child caregivers need to consider whether the minor
potential convenience of laundry detergent packets is worth the
poisoning risk to children,” said senior author Dr. Gary A. Smith,
director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide
Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
“Children exposed to laundry detergent packets were significantly
more likely to be admitted to a healthcare facility or have a
serious medical outcome than those exposed to other types of
detergent,” Smith told Reuters Health by email.
Coma, fluid in the lungs, stopped breathing and death only happened
in cases involving laundry detergent packets, he said.
His team analyzed data from the National Poison Data System on more
than 62,000 children under age six who were exposed to laundry and
dishwasher detergents in 2013 and 2014. More than half the exposures
involved packets.
Exposures increased from 2013 to 2014, increasing more for both
types of packets than for other detergents. Most exposed kids were
younger than three.
More than 80 percent of kids had swallowed the detergent.
Hospitalization and serious medical outcomes were most common for
laundry detergent packets.
Of the 117 cases that required inserting a breathing tube into the
child’s windpipe, 104 involved laundry detergent packets.
There were two deaths, both involving laundry detergent packets, as
reported in Pediatrics.
“Packets often resemble candy or juice and are the perfect size for
a young child to grab and put in their mouth,” Smith said. The
coating, he said, “will quickly begin to dissolve in their mouth,
and/or pop when the child bites it, which shoots concentrated
detergent down their throat and into their airway.”
[to top of second column] |
Detergent packets are new to the U.S. market within the last five
years and are increasingly popular, he said.
“I wouldn't say the results are that surprising as we now know that
laundry detergent pod exposure is common,” said Dr. Michael Gray of
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, who was not part of
the new study.
“The packets have been available in the US since 2012 but have been
around much longer in Europe,” Gray told Reuters Health by email.
Packets may have different ingredient concentrations than regular
detergent, but more research would be needed to determine why
exposure outcomes are worse, he said.
“There are safer and effective alternatives to laundry detergent
packets,” Smith said. “We recommend that households with children
under six years of age that live or visit there use traditional
(liquid or powder) laundry detergent.”
Parents should store laundry detergent packets up, away, and out of
sight, close containers immediately after use and save the national
Poison Help Line number (1-800-222-1222) in cell phones and near
home phones, he said.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
