skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

The Danger Lurking in Your Laundry Room

play audio
Play

Wednesday, April 27, 2016   

INDIANAPOLIS - A new study shows a 17 percent increase in calls to poison-control centers across the nation in the last couple of years because of kids eating laundry or dishwashing soap.

Study co-author Henry Spiller, director of the Central Ohio Poison Control Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital, said they looked at both laundry and dishwashing soaps, and by far the most dangerous were the laundry pods because they're very colorful.

"Bright little 2- and 3-year-olds running around their house, and these are very pretty, and they put 'em in their mouths," he said, "and they bite into it thinking it's perhaps candy, and it squirts into the back of their throat, and they get sort of a blast of this."

In the two-year study, Spiller said, poison-control centers got more than 22,000 calls because of children either eating or inhaling laundry pods or accidentally squirting the contents into their eyes.

Spiller said the pods are more dangerous than you might think because they're so concentrated.

"Injury to the throat, the lungs, burns to the skin," he said. "We've also seen really severe cases, children that required intubation, ICU; we've had cardiac arrest. So, in a few cases, it can be really severe."

Manufacturers have added warning labels to containers, and some have child-resistant caps, but Spiller said he thinks they should consider changing the formulation or appearance of the laundry packets as well. He noted that many are sold in plastic, resealable bags that could resemble food pouches.

Despite the convenience of the pods, Spiller said, parents and caregivers of young children should stick to the old-fashioned way of doing laundry and dishes.

"They need to keep it up high, they need to put it in a locked cabinet," he said, "or, perhaps a better idea is to perhaps go back to the liquid laundry detergent, just for a few years."

Children younger than age 3 accounted for about three-quarters of the total poisoning cases in the study.

The study is online at pediatrics.aappublications.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021