The committee will not take an official role, but its testing-company members will try to incorporate poison prevention education in applying the CRP test protocol with both children and seniors. A flyer for seniors could encourage them to try the new senior-friendly packaging. The database does not routinely capture information about packaging, so we can only observe the trends and try to relate them to the packaging changes such as CRP and the change to unit-dose packaging for iron products. Even in cases where it doesn't prevent a child from opening it, the greater difficulty of breaking into a CR package often creates enough delay to allow parents to intervene. CR packaging also serves to alert adults that the product may be dangerous to young children, so they may be more cautious than otherwise.
Some adults do, however, expect too much from CR packaging.
As we repeatedly emphasize, it is not child-proof, and parents should not expect the packaging to be the sole protection for their children. Potentially harmful products must be kept out of reach of children, preferably out of sight and, better yet, locked away. It won't work if the closure is not properly replaced, or if the medication is transferred to a non-CR package. Many of the reported poisonings occur in grandparents' homes, where drugs are often transferred to reminder packs or containers that are easier to open. Household chemicals should not be stored under the kitchen sink, and child-protective latches or locks should be used on the cabinet doors where they are stored.