While kids getting into bottles of pain medicine remains a leading cause of poisonings, new and different serious risks have emerged.

New single-load liquid laundry packets look like candy, toys or teethers, but they are dangerous for children. This isn’t the liquid laundry detergent from your childhood. These packets are filled with highly concentrated, toxic chemicals. Wet hands, water and saliva can quickly dissolve these packets, releasing the chemicals.

In 2012, CPSC staff learned of more than 500 incidents involving children and adults who were injured by these packets. If you use these packets in your home, always handle them with dry hands and keep them out of sight and reach of children. CPSC is encouraged that the manufacturers of laundry packets are developing improved warning labels, making their product packaging less attractive to children, and have committed to implement a comprehensive consumer awareness campaign.  However, CPSC seeks additional design changes to all types of packages containing laundry packets that will make individual packets less accessible to children. You should start seeing safety alerts in stores soon that alert you to important laundry packet safety concerns.

If you have any type of electronics in your home, you likely have coin- or button-sized batteries.  They are in remote controls, electronic games, toys, musical cards, hearing aids and other common electronic products. These small batteries pack a powerful —and deadly—punch. These batteries can cause life-threatening chemical burns inside the body in as little as two hours. Incidents often involve children younger than 4 and senior adults. Even completely dead batteries have enough residual power left in them to cause serious injuries.

While improvements are in the works to prevent people from suffering burn injuries if they ingest a battery, please take immediate steps to safeguard your children right now do the following:

• Check your electronics’ battery compartments and tighten with a screw.
• For battery compartments that do not use a screw, try securing them with strong tape.
•  Put any item with an unsecured button battery up and out of both the sight and reach of a child.
• When the batteries die, make sure to throw them out in a way that children can’t retrieve them.
• Also, make sure to buy the correct-size replacement battery so you don’t have any batteries lying around that you don’t need.
• Finally, don’t store a remote control on top of un-anchored televisions or furniture. That creates a different, significant hazard of TV tipovers for your child.

CPSC is encouraged that the coin and button cell industry is developing more secure packaging and taking additional steps to try to keep the products away from young children. However, CPSC is looking to see design changes that eliminate the serious chemical burn injuries that often occur upon ingestion.

Here are other poison prevention tips, which can help you provide a safe environment for your children to explore.

1. Keep medicines and household chemicals in their original, child-resistant containers.
2. Store potentially hazardous substances up and out of a child’s sight and reach.
3. Keep the national Poison Help Line number, 800-222-1222, handy in case of a poison emergency.
4. When hazardous products are in use, never let young children out of your sight, even if it means you must take them along when answering the phone or doorbell.
5. Leave the original labels on all products, and read the labels before using the products.
6. Always leave the light on when giving or taking medicine so you can see that you are administering the proper medicine, and be sure to check the dosage every time.
7. Avoid taking medicine in front of children. Refer to medicine as “medicine,” not “candy.”
8. Clean out the medicine cabinet periodically and safely dispose of unneeded and outdated medicines.
9. Do not put decorative lamps and candles that contain lamp oil where children can reach them. Lamp oil can be very toxic if ingested by children.

If you have a poison emergency, call the national Poison Help Line at (800) 222-1222.

If so, you should keep reading. The Safety 1^st Push ‘N Snap Cabinet Locks are being recalled because young children can open the locks and get access to the cabinets.

Dorel Juvenile Group, the company that imports these locks, has received 200 reports of locks that did not adequately secure cabinets or were damaged. Three children who got into the cabinets swallowed or handled dishwasher detergent, window cleaner or oven cleaner and were observed and released from emergency treatment centers.

You can find detailed information on how to identify the recalled locks here.

Stop relying on these recalled locks to keep children out of cabinets immediately and contact the company at www.djgusa.com or toll-free at (866) 762-3212 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday for a free replacement lock. While you are waiting for a free replacement lock, immediately store dangerous items out of reach of children.

Similar Recalls:

• Child Safety Latches and Outlet Covers Recalled by Prime-Line; Screw Breaks Can Allow Unintended Access
• The First Years® Recalls American Red Cross® Cabinet Swing Locks; Latches Can Fail to Prevent Access by Children

This week is Poison Prevention Week’s 50^th birthday. Like we often do on birthdays, it’s time to reflect on where we are today.

So — where are we?

In the past 50 years, there has been a 92 percent decline in child poisoning deaths. More than 400 children died each year from poisonings 50 years ago. Today, about 36 children die each year.   Poison control centers report that the most common poisons for children are cosmetics and personal care products, pain medicines and cleaning substances. More than 4 million Americans call a Poison Control Center on the national toll-free hotline (800) 222-1222 each year. And a dozen eggs costs about $2.50.

You might not think the price of eggs is worth celebrating, but the progress made in preventing unintentional poisoning definitely is.

Help us to do even better during the next 50 years. Take a look at these easy steps you can take to prevent unintentional child poisoning. Poison prevention starts with you.

Happy birthday, Poison Prevention Week!

That’s the sound you often hear when you close the child-resistant cap on a medicine bottle.

Imagine this scenario: It’s the middle of the night and your sick child needs a dose of fever reducing medicine. You’re only half awake and caring for your child. You give your child the medicine and head back to bed.

CLICK. Did you hear it? Sometimes you won’t. But be sure the cap is closed tightly. Even in your most sleep-deprived hours, check the cap.

Most emergency room visits involving 2-year-olds happen after children find and eat or drink medicines when adults aren’t looking, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And each year, the nation’s poison control centers field more than 2 million calls because of unintentional poisonings.

This is why you need to put the bottles UP and AWAY.

Like many parents, you may think child-resistant caps fully prevent children from opening medications. Wrong. Child-resistant caps simply give you more time to prevent children from getting into medicines.

The regulation that covers child-resistant packaging works. Since the Poison Prevention Packaging Act was passed in 1970, there has been a 40% decline in aspirin poisonings alone with the use of child-resistant closures. That’s hundreds of children’s lives that have been saved.

Your vigilance can prevent the poisonings that continue to happen. Click, Up and Away. [Link will go back to the CDC campaign]

Follow these steps to keep children safe around medicine:

Put the medicine up and away. Layers of protection are best. That means put it up in a cabinet or closet out of sight. Locks or child-resistant latches are recommended.

• Never call medicine “candy.”
• Ask for and use child-resistant closures on your medicines.
• Keep medicines in their original containers. Don’t transfer them to bottles, day-minders, cups or non-child-resistant containers.
• Take your medicines out of sight of young children, because young children tend to imitate adults.

Remember, young children will eat or drink almost anything. Poison prevention starts with you!

As batteries are shrinking and becoming more powerful, the number of battery-related incidents resulting in severe injury and death is increasing. A recent study conducted by Dr. Toby Litovitz of the National Capital Poison Center found that button battery-related incidents have increased sevenfold since 1985.

Incidents often involve children younger than 4 and senior adults. In most cases, children have picked up exposed batteries or gotten the batteries from games, toys, calculators, remote controls and other items left within a child’s reach. Often, parents don’t know that a child swallowed the battery. Or senior adults have swallowed button batteries used in hearing aids after mistaking them for pills.

Occasionally, a swallowed battery will pass through the intestine. Other times, the battery becomes lodged in the throat or intestine. The button battery can cause chemical burns in as little as two hours.

The majority of reported incidents involve 20 mm diameter or larger, 3 volt batteries like this:

More than 60 percent of reported incidents are initially misdiagnosed. Symptoms resemble ailments common in children, such as an upset stomach and fever. In some incidents there were no symptoms.

CPSC recommends the following steps to prevent unintentional battery ingestion:

• Keep remotes and other electronics out of your child’s reach if the battery compartments do not have a screw to secure them. Tape may be used to help secure the battery compartment.
• Keep button batteries out of your child’s reach. Discard button batteries carefully.
• Do not allow children to play with button batteries.
• Never put button batteries in your mouth for any reason; they are slippery and easily swallowed accidentally.
• Always check medications before ingesting them. Adults have swallowed batteries mistaken for pills or tablets.
• Caution hearing aid users to keep hearing aids and batteries out of the reach of children.