Poisoning Prevention

In the Kitchen

You use child-resistant caps on all harmful products in your kitchen cabinets. Products like furniture polishes, drain cleaners and some oven cleaners should have safety packaging to keep little children from accidentally opening the packages.

You keep all potentially harmful products in their original containers. There are two dangers if products aren't stored in their original containers. Labels on the original containers often give first aid information if someone should swallow the product. And if products are stored in containers like drinking glasses or pop bottles, someone may think it is food and swallow it.

You store harmful products away from food. If harmful products are placed next to food, someone may accidentally get a food and a poison mixed up and swallow the poison

You put all potentially harmful products up high and out of reach of children. The best way to prevent poisoning is making sure that it's impossible to find and get at the poisons. Locking all cabinets that hold dangerous products is the best poison prevention.

In the Bathroom

You stop to think that medicines could poison if used improperly. Many children are poisoned each year by overdoses of aspirin. If aspirin can poison, just think of how many other poisons might be in your medicine cabinet.

Your aspirins and other potentially harmful products have child-resistant closures. Aspirins and most prescription drugs come with child-resistant caps. Check to see yours have them, and that they are properly secured. Check your prescriptions before leaving the pharmacy to make sure the medicines are in child-resistant packaging. These caps have been shown to save the lives of children.

You have you thrown out all out-of-date prescriptions. As medicines get older, the chemicals inside them can change. So what was once a good medicine may now be a dangerous poison. Flush all old drugs down the toilet. Rinse the container well, then discard it.

You keep all medicines in their original containers with the original labels. Prescription medicines may or may notlist ingredients. The prescription number on the label will, however, allow rapid identification by the pharmacist of the ingredients should they not be listed. Without the original label and container, you can't be sure of what you're taking. After all, aspirin looks a lot like poisonous roach tablets.

Your vitamins or vitamin/mineral supplements that contain iron are in child-resistant packaging. Most people think of vitamins and minerals as foods and, therefore, nontoxic, but a few iron pills can kill a child.

In the Garage or Storage Area

You know that many things in your garage or storage area that can be swallowed are terrible poisons. Death may occur when people swallow such everyday substances as charcoal lighter, paint thinner and remover, antifreeze and turpentine.

You make sure that all these poisons have child-resistant caps.

You store potential poisons in their original containers with their original lablels.

You have made sure that no poisons are stored in drinking glasses or pop bottles.

You make sure that all these harmful products locked up and out of sight and reach.