Poison

Curiosity is a natural stage of your child's development, but it also puts her at greater risk of unintentional poisoning. In 2002 more than 1.2 million such poisonings among children ages 5 and under were reported to U.S. poison control centers. In 2001, 96 children ages 14 and under died from poisoning incidents. Although household cleaners are a frequent cause of poisoning, kids can also be fatally poisoned by iron, alcohol and carbon monoxide.

Child-resistant packaging, product reformulation and interventions by poison control centers and health professionals all helped reduce the childhood poison-related death rate 45 percent from 1974 to 1992. By reducing the opportunity for poisonings and knowing how to keep innocent mistakes from turning into tragedies, you can help that number decline even further.

To learn more about childhood unintentional poisoning read A Report to the Nation: Trends in Unintentional Childhood Injury Mortality, 1987-2000 (May 2003).

To purchase educational materials about poison prevention, check out our Resource Catalog (off-site link).