Keep Medicine Away From Children

HERSHEY, Pa. -- Each year, close to 1 million children younger than 5 are accidentally poisoned, resulting in approximately 30 deaths.

This is National Poison Prevention Week, and to keep kids safe, you may want to take a look at potential poisons from a child's point of view.

Packaging of some food products and some products that could be harmful to children can look alike.

"They see the color. They look and see and, 'Oh, I drink this one. It's a pretty blue liquid in a plastic jug,' and so when they see glass cleaner, it's the same color," said Suzanne Firestone, with the Penn State Poison Center.

Firestone said toddlers learn things visually, and for that reason alone, parents should keep poisons and medicines out of sight.

"One big thing with medicines is don't show children where you keep it. If they don't know where it is, they can't find it," Firestone said.

Firestone said you should never tell a child that medicine is candy as a way to get the child to take the medicine.

Children aren't the only ones being brought to the hospital for accidental poisonings. More often these days, seniors are being brought in for poison treatment. With the multiple medications many seniors take these days, mistakes are common and dangerous.

"They may mix their meds into one bottle. Like if they're going away so they don't have to carry multiple bottles, then whey they open them, they forget which one is which," Firestone said.

Poison control centers recommend putting the Mr. Yuk sticker on poisonous products and teaching children that Mr. Yuk means they should stay away from it.

In the event of an accidental poisoning, call (800) 222-1222. The new national toll-free poisoning hotline connects to the local poison control center in that area.

You will be asked to provide the following:

• Child's condition
• Name of the product and ingredients
• How much of the product was taken
• Time poisoning happened
• Your name and phone number
• Age of the poisoned child
• Weight of the poisoned child