These items are valuable in the home and for yard maintenance, but misuse, especially when products are used in inappropriate applications or quantities, can cause illness, injury and even death. Each year more than 6,000 persons die and an estimated 300,000 suffer disabling illnesses as a result of unintentional poisoning by solid and liquid substances.
Unintentional poisonings can happen to anyone, at any time, in any situation.
Home unintentional poisonings, however, can be prevented. While child-resistant packaging has greatly reduced the number of fatalities among children under five years of age, parents, grandparents and other caregivers must still be cautious. Following label directions for all products including medication dosages and proper storage of potential toxic products are important precautions to heed. Statistics Poisonings from solids and liquids such as drugs, medicines, poisonous houseplants, and commonly recognized poisons caused 6,300 deaths in the home in 1998 alone. An additional 500 deaths in the home in 1998 were due to poisonings from gases and vapors such as carbon monoxide.