An in-depth look at keeping young children safe around medicine

This report from Safe Kids Worldwide states that every: " ... minute of every day, a poison control center [in the US] receives a call about a potential medicine poisoning for a child age five and under. And 67,000 times each year, or every eight minutes, a young child goes to the emergency room for medicine poisoning. This is a 30 percent increase over the past ten years. In its report ... Safe Kids examines data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, information from poison control centers and findings from several focus groups among moms. The report reviews what is happening in households that leads to these disturbing numbers and offers parents simple things they can do to protect their children. ... Tips to Keep Kids Safe Around Medicine - Put medicine and vitamins up and away and out of sight. In 67 percent of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the medicine was left within reach of the child, such as in a purse, on a counter, or under a sofa cushion.) - Even if you are tempted to keep it handy, put medicine out of reach after every use. - Look around your home for products you might not think about as harmful, like rubbing alcohol, eye drops or gummy vitamins, and store them out of the reach of children. - When you have guests in your home, offer to put purses, bags and coats where kids can’t get to them. (In 43 percent of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the child got into medicine belonging to a relative, such as an aunt, uncle or grandparent.) - Be alert to medicine in places your child visits. Take a look around to make sure there isn’t medicine within reach of your child. - Program the nationwide poison control center number ... [in New Zealand 0800 POISON (0800 764 766)] into your phones." Contains data and statistics.