Each year, unintentional poisonings from medicines and household chemicals kill about 30 children and prompt more than 1 million calls to the nation's poison control centers. The 40th observance of National Poison Prevention Week, March 18-24, aims to help prevent those childhood poisonings by reminding people to check their homes now. For aspirin and oral prescription medicine, special packaging has saved the lives of over 900 children since the early 1970s. National Poison Prevention Week is organized each year by the Poison Prevention Week Council, a coalition of national organizations working to prevent poisonings.
Children are curious, and they act fast.
So do poisons. Keep chemicals and medicines locked up out of reach and out of sight. Poisonings can and must be prevented. Child-resistant packaging is not childproof. If a young child swallows a medicine or chemical, parents must call the poison control center immediately.